Women's Basketball | 2/3/2012 7:59:00 PM
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McPherson, Kan. - Coming off a tight battle at Saint Mary Thursday night, the Lady Bulldogs now play host to the conference leading Southwestern College Moundbuilders. The game will be played in the McPherson Sport Center with the tipoff scheduled for 5 p. m. Saturday night.
The game will have a live video stream on the KCAC Broadcast Network and at Macbulldogs.com. This showdown will also be broadcasting live in the McPherson area on 96.7 FM KBBE MidKansas Radio and at Macbulldogs.com with Nick Gosnell making the call.
The win against Saint Mary brought the record of the Bulldogs to 8-5 in the conference and 13-10 overall. With Sterling beating Kansas Wesleyan and Ottawa winning, McPherson is now tied for third place in the KCAC rankings.
McPherson's recent victory against USM had a lot to do with their stingy defense and unwavering determination. The ladies look to keep up that same sort of intensity and effort as the top-scoring KCAC offense, Southwestern College, comes to town. SWC is averaging 76.57 points per game for the season but in the past three games, that average has been down nearly ten points, for an average of 68 points.
The Lady Bulldogs scored just 56 points for the second straight week which is still over ten points below their season average of 67.83. MC knows how important it is to score against Southwestern. In their last matchup against the Builders, SWC put up 94 points and McPherson could only muster 53. If the Bulldogs are going to stick with the scoring pace of the Builders, they will have to get more production from their three players that are averaging double-figures;
Kt Porter (13.17),
Brittany Pittas (12.43 ) and
Elice Frey (11.22).
An advantage that McPherson does have is that the Lady Builders are coming off a loss which was their first since Dec. 10. Southwestern hosted Friends University on Thursday and lost 74-75 in a down to the wire matchup of the top-two teams in the conference. The loss creates a tie for first place in the KCAC between Friends and Southwestern.
After the contest with the Moundbuilders, McPherson will be off until the 9
th of February when they will take on the aforementioned first place Friends University Falcons. That game is scheduled to tipoff at 6 p.m. inside the McPherson Sport Center.
Scouting Southwestern
Coming off of the loss to Friends, Southwestern College will now be keeping a close eye on the Falcons as they have now given SWC their only two losses in the KCAC putting them at 11-2. This was Southwestern’s sixth overall loss of the season and drops their record to 17-6 overall. The loss is even more devastating to SWC because they held the game in their hands, leading by four with the ball and only 41 seconds remaining. After a couple of costly turnovers and ill-timed fouls, Friends took the final lead with six seconds left in the game, winning 75-74.
In the Friends, SWC matchup, both teams shot very well from the floor. Friends went 32-of-70 from the field to shoot an amazing 45.7 percent. The Lady Builders tried not to be outdone on their home court but could only make 25-of-59 for a percentage of 42.4 which is right above their season average of 39.9 percent. The real story came on the foul-line where Friends struggled, converting on only 8-of-16, shooting 50 percent. Southwestern also had trouble making their free-throws and went 13-of-24 for a season low 54.2 free-throw percentage.
SWC was led by senior guard Brett Bates who scored 24 and was just two points shy of her season best. She shot 43.8 percent (7-of-16) from the field and was an outstanding 50 percent (5-10) from beyond the arc. Bates also shot much better than her teammates from the charity stripe; Bates was 5-of-7 from the free-throw line. Kristy Herman also made it into double-digits, scoring 11 on 3-of-5 from the field and a perfect 4-of-4 from the foul-line.
At this point in the season, Bates is averaging 18 points a game which places her second in the KCAC. The Lady Builders have two others that are averaging double figure scoring this year. Brittney Chamberlin and Zefiryn Bryan are averaging 10.41 and 10.26 respectively.
With the offense rolling like it is, Southwestern’s weak point this season is their defense. They are giving up a third-worst in the KCAC 63.57 points per game and are at the bottom of the conference in the defensive field goal percentage category sitting at 39.3 percent.
The Builders will travel to Salina on Feb. 9
th for a Thursday night matchup against 13-11 Kansas Wesleyan after their showdown with McPherson.
