Women's Basketball | 11/17/2010 12:06:25 AM
Box Score Box Score
McPherson, Kan. – The McPherson College women’s basketball team won a knockdown, drag out physical game, 60-57 Tuesday night against Central Christian College.
With the win, McPherson snaps a four game winless streak and improves to 2-5 on the season, while the Lady Tigers fall to 0-3.
The Bulldogs came out firing in the first half, building as much as an 11-point lead, 22-11, midway through the period. However, Central battled back with an 11-2 run over the next four minutes to pull back within two, 22-24. McPherson answered with an 11-3 stretch of their own to enter the locker room with a 35-25 halftime advantage.
McPherson shot 41.4 percent (12-of-29) from the field in the first half, while out rebounding the Lady Tigers 31 to 19.
The second half proved to be much tighter than the first, as the Lady Tigers narrowed the MC lead to one, 37-38, on a Rachel Graves jumper with 11:06 remaining. The Bulldogs used a pair of free throws from Tori Verdeick (New Castle, Colo.) and a three-pointer from Brooke Sloan (Buffalo, Kan.) to extend its lead back to six, 45-39 with just under 10 minutes left.
McPherson maintained the lead, but with 2:16 left, Graves converted another jumper to make it 52-50 McPherson. However, the aggressive McPherson defense and consistent rebounding would not allow Central to get any closer as the Bulldogs closed out the win with a pair of Brooke Weisenburger (Gardner, Kan.) free throws.
For the night, Weisenburger was McPherson’s leading scorer with 14 points, while Kristen Ozbun (Rose Hill, Kan.) ended with 13. Freshman Breahna Gillespie (Little River, Kan.) had a career-high 16 rebounds in the win.
McPherson held a 56-35 rebounding advantage.
McPherson returns to action on Friday when they host Southwestern Christian University on day one of the McPherson Classic. Tipoff is set for 6:00 p.m. from the McPherson Sport Center.
