Women's Basketball | 1/3/2013 11:05:00 PM
Box Score
McPherson, Kan. – MC women’s basketball begins the 2013 KCAC campaign with a 74-46 win over the Lady Spires of Saint Mary. The destruction of USM moves the Bulldogs to 9-6 for the season and 3-2 in conference.
After trailing 4-3, McPherson went on a 22-1 run putting them up 26-6; the ‘Dogs did go through a four minute shooting drought during that stretch but fortunately, so did the Spires. After getting up by 20 points, MC rode their lead for the final five minutes of the half, going into the locker room up 33-13.
Looking at McPherson’s field goal percentage from the opening period would make it seem like the Lady Bulldogs were losing as they hit just 9-of-33 from the floor but five of those makes were three point balls and MC also converted 10-of-14 from the charity stripe, helping them stay out in front. For as poor as Mac shot in the physical first half, Saint Mary did even worse, making just four baskets out of 29 attempts; the team went 3-of-6 from the free throw line in the game’s first 20 minutes.
USM scored the first field goal of the second half, bringing their deficit under 20 points which is where it stayed for the majority of the first 10 minutes of the period. McPherson strung together a couple of mini-runs that allowed them to increase their advantage, pushing it to 30 points on occasion. Reserves for both teams played the final five minutes of the game but the Bulldog junior varsity players didn’t give any ground, helping MC hang on to the 74-46 victory.
A 50 percent 14-of-28 shooting from the field was logged by McPherson in the second half; they also made 13-of-19 from the stripe. Saint Mary nearly tripled their field goal percentage from the first period, draining 10-of-30 from the floor; the Lady Spires were only able to make 3-of-13 from downtown which made it difficult for them to claw back into the game.
Mac ended the contest 23-of-61 from the field and 5-of-13 from behind the arc with all of their three point baskets coming in the first period; they were near 70% from the free throw line, making 23-of-33. USM had a rough night from the floor, making only 23.7% of their field goals and 19 from the stripe. McPherson grabbed 14 offensive and 37 defensive rebounds in the game, topping Saint Mary in both categories. The Bulldogs recorded an even 15 assists and 15 turnovers while stealing the ball 10 times.
MC’s leading scorer for the game was Cheyenne Eisenhour (Stafford, Kan.) who bucketed 7-of-9 from the field and 4-of-5 from the charity stripe for a McPherson career-high 20 points. She was followed by Bailey Brown (Glen Elder, Kan.) who got the majority of her 11 points from the free throw line where she went 8-of-10. Ali Brewster (Milton, Kan.) grabbed 10 rebounds to go along with her nine points; she also tallied a team-high three assists.
One Lady Spire made it into double figures in the loss as Jennifer Harmon went 3-of-8 from the field and 2-of-2 from the stripe for 10 points. Freshman Bailey Hooker logged 10 rebounds and six points joining Kendra Mattox as the team’s second highest scorer.
In two days, McPherson will be back at it as they host the Friends University Lady Falcons on January 5th at 5:00 p.m. (CT). Much like Thursday’s game, there will be no junior varsity action on Saturday.
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