Women's Basketball | 11/1/2012 7:32:00 PM
McPherson, Kan. – The McPherson College women’s basketball team is traveling up to Concordia, Nebraska for the Concordia University Classic this weekend. The Lady Bulldogs will get to play two games in as many days, first taking on the NAIA No. 1 Concordia University Bulldogs at 8:00 p.m. (CT) on Friday followed by No. 18 Hastings College at 12:00 p.m. on Saturday.
Both games will be streamed live via a link on macbulldogs.com or on the Concordia Sports Network at www.cune.edu. You can also watch the live stats through macbulldogs.com.
MC will head into their matchup with the Nation’s top team after suffering a tough defeat this past Tuesday to Haskell Indian Nations University. The game was both team’s first of the year and it was a tale of two halves for each squad.
The Lady Bulldogs opened up the game with 15-0 run, going 6-of-10 from the field. HINU was able to get a few of those points back but the stout defense of McPherson kept them at bay and preserved an 11 point halftime lead for McPherson.
The second half started nearly the exact opposite as the Lady Indians hit 7-of-10 and put up 16 points to MC’s one. After trading the lead for the middle part of the period, Haskell jumped out to a 17 point advantage and never gave up the lead again. MC were able to put a few runs together but never made it within single digits.
McPherson ended the game shooting 39% from the field and 13-of-20 from the free throw stripe. All but one of the Lady Bulldogs that saw playing time committed at least one turnover. MC was -12 in the turnover ratio in the loss.
Brittany Pittas had a career game for MC, hitting on 12-of-20 from the field, 6-of-11 from behind the arc, for 32 points; Pittas’ points rank her first in the NAIA in points per game, she is also first in three point shots made per game with six. Forwards Kylee Cramer and Tayler Puttergill each tallied eight points, landing them second best on the squad; both Cramer and Puttergill also totaled six rebounds.
Once this weekend’s classic is over, McPherson will travel to Fort Hays State University in Hays, Kansas for a game against the FHSU Lady Tigers. That game will be on the 10th of November at 2:00 p.m. (CT)
Scouting Concordia
Concordia, like McPherson, has played one game thus far this season. Unlike Mac, the Concordia Lady Bulldogs won theirs and did so in high fashion, defeating York College 92-45 in York, Nebraska.
As a team, CU shot 44.6 percent from the field and 62.5 from the charity stripe. They also grabbed 51 rebounds, 24 coming off of the offensive glass. One thing Concordia didn’t do well was hit from deep, only making 22.2% of their threes.
Defensively, the Lady Bulldogs held YC to just 44 shot attempts, compared to their 83. Concordia also forced 36 turnovers, stealing 24 of those balls.
Bailey Morris put in 18 points on 8-of-14 to lead all scoring and was followed by Beth Kohmetscher who had 15 in her team high 20 minutes.
In 2011-12, Concordia made it to the NAIA D-II tournament semifinals, losing to College of the Ozarks 70-74. They ended the year 34-3 and were third in the final poll by the NAIA.
11 players returned to the team from last season’s squad, most notably Kristen Conahan, Katie Rich and Morris who bring back a combined 1173 points; Conahan leads the list of returners with 530 points.
CU was second only to Briar Cliff University, who also made it to the NAIA semifinals, in scoring offense last year in the Great Plains Athletic Conference, averaging 77.5 points per contest. Their defense put up some stiff competition last year, only allowing 59.9 points per game, first in the GPAC.
The one area the Lady Bulldogs struggled in last season was their shooting percentage, both from the field and from three-point land. They were just 39.8 percent from the floor and only 31.5 from distance.
Concordia University stays at home for their next six games after the classic; their next competition is against the College of Saint Mary on the 6th of November.
Scouting Hastings
Hasting’s game against McPherson will be their second of the year with their first coming the day prior against the other team in the Concordia Classic, William Penn College.
The Broncos are coming off a 22-11 campaign from a year ago and return 10 ladies to their 2012-13 roster. The scoring leaders that are returning are Tanasia Uhrig, 227, Brittney Wong, 236, and Alicia Statler, 508.
Out of the team’s 22 wins in 2011-12, 12 of them were against GPAC opponents which was good enough to place them fifth among the 11 teams. Though they were in the top half of the conference in standings, HC was ninth in points scored at 64.6 per game. It was the Lady Bronco defense that kept the team in most of their games as they only allowed 60.8 each contest which placed them second amongst their fellow GPAC members. Hastings was first in the conference and sixth in the NAIA in total blocks with 155.
HC will travel to Wichita, Kansas on November 8th to take on the KCAC’s Friends University after the Concordia Classic.
