Women's Basketball | 2/17/2012 1:37:00 AM
Box Score Box Score
Ottawa, Kan. – Despite shooting 50 percent from the field in the first half, McPherson College was only able to take a 2 point lead into the locker room at the break. The Bulldogs come out cold in the second falling to Ottawa University 68-54 on Thursday night.
The second half of the matchup consisted of multiple lead changes with neither team being able to fully take control of the game. With six minutes remaining, Ottawa used their inside size and took the driver’s seat, pulling away from MC thanks to a one-sided run.
McPherson was led by freshman
Brittany Pittas (Lake in the Hills, Ill.) who had nine points in the opening period on 2-of-3 from beyond the arc, Pittas ended the night with 12. Two Bulldogs scored 10 in the game, forward
Taylor Puttergill (Tryon, Neb.) and guard
Madison Chambers (Wellsville, Kan.) who also had 10 rebounds for her fist double-double this year.
The Braves’ top two scorers came off the bench with Shauna McClure (20) and April Dowell (14), who also had 12 rebounds for her first double-double of the season. Forward Amber Ramsey was the only other Ottawa player scoring in the double-digits, she had 12.
The Bulldog’s field goal percentage dropped from their first half 50 percent to 22.2 in the second period, they went 6-of-27. After making half of their three-point tries in the first period, McPherson went cold in the second not being able to convert one of their nine attempts.
McPherson was 5-of-5 from the charity stripe in the opening period and ended the contest shooting a season-high 85.7 percent from the line.
Offensive rebounds and second chance points allowed Ottawa to control the second half against the Bulldogs. OU was able to accumulate more offensive boards (22) than they had defensive ones (20), a feat that is incredibly rare. They made good use of those rebounds, with 20 second-chance points for the contest.
In the opening period, OU shot just 25 percent from the field on their 32 attempts. The Braves quickly rectified their shooting habits as evident by their 55.2 field goal percentage in the second half; they ended the night 24-of-61.
Ottawa visited the free-throw line 13 times in the first half which was more than double that of the Bulldogs (5). They were able to convert on 10 of those attempts and finished the night 17-of-25 from the line.
Ottawa wore pink uniforms to support Breast Cancer Awareness in the Thursday night matchup.
McPherson’s final game of the regular season is Saturday, Feb. 18
th in the McPherson Sport Center against Bethany College. This game will be Senior night as well as Alumni night and is scheduled to start at 5 p.m. (CT)
