Women's Basketball | 2/14/2013 11:24:00 PM
Box Score
Sterling, Kan. – The Lady Bulldogs couldn’t get it done in regulation after holding an eight-point lead with two minutes remaining. The SC Warriors came out victorious in overtime, winning 74-71. McPherson is now 14-13 for the season and 8-9 in the KCAC, ranking sixth in the standings, with one game remaining.
The game started off with the Lady Warriors holding a slight advantage for the game’s first few minutes; MC, never more than a couple buckets down, took over for the middle section of the half. After some back-and-forth points, Mac took off and jumped ahead by seven points with just a few left in the period. A 4-1 run by Sterling closed out the half putting the halftime score at 32-28.
At the half, McPherson had made 13-of-29 from the floor with a good deal of their total coming in the paint; the ‘Dogs missed their lone three-point attempt and went 54.5% from the charity stripe, well below their season average. SC converted 10-of-32 of their field goals with 2-of-7 from deep falling through; they cashed in on 6-of-9 from the foul line. Sterling’s Kayla Eilert scored 10 points in the opening period, tallying the majority of her points from the stripe as she made 6-of-8.
MC started the second half relinquishing their lead within the first few minutes but a quick 6-0 run by the Lady ‘Dogs put McPherson back in front by four which they extended to 11 with under eight minutes to play. Mac kept on top for the next few possessions but then had a hard time scoring, letting SC go on a 16-5 run to close out the half, pushing the contest to overtime; turnovers were a big part of Sterling’s comeback as the Bulldogs tallied six in the final five minutes.
In overtime, the Lady Warriors used the momentum gained in the waning minutes of the final period to take control of OT from the start; they were up 71-65 with 1:26 showing on the clock. McPherson hit a couple of three balls down the stretch to give them a chance, one by
Cheyenne Eisenhour (Stafford, Kan.) and one by
Chandler Short (Edgewood, Texas). With 27 ticks left, the Bulldogs had the ball down by three but three missed attempts from downtown found MC with a 74-71 loss; the final heave by
Madison Chambers (Wellsville, Kan.) was inches away of falling through.
McPherson tallied a 40.7 field goal percentage in the second half and overtime after bucketing 11-of-27 from the floor with 4-of-9 falling through from deep; they continued to struggle from the free throw line, making 50% of their 10 attempts. Sterling recorded an impressive 50% shooting in the final 25 minutes of the game, courtesy of shooting a lot of layups; they missed the one three ball attempted and logged 9-of-15 from the charity stripe.
For the game, Mac made 42.4 percent of their shots from the field count, draining 27-of-64 with 6-of-16 makes from downtown; they hit a poor 11-of-21 from the foul line. The Lady Warriors converted on 28-of-66 from the floor and were 16-of-26 from the free throw line; only 2-of-9 from behind the arc found their way through the net. McPherson outrebounded SC 48-40; Sterling tallied 16 boards off the offensive glass. The Warriors had just 10 turnovers and took the ball away from MC 11 times. The Lady Bulldogs had 34 of their points scored by bench players.
Cami Engelbert (Beloit, Kan.) came alive in the second period for Mac and closed out the contest with a team-high 13 points; she hit 6-of-7 from the field and also brought down five rebounds. Taylor Puttergill was right on Engelbert’s heels as she totaled 12 points on 4-of-12 shooting with 3-of-4 balls from the stripe falling through; she was close to another double-double as she had eight rebounds. Both Eisenhour and
Kaylee Cramer (Dighton, Kan.) scored 10 points in the loss; Eisenhour made 3-of-4 from the field with 2-of-4 free throws falling in and Cramer made 4-of-10 field goals and her lone free throw. Chambers recorded a team-high nine rebounds and also scored eight.
Eilert was near unstoppable down the stretch for SC on her way to a game-high 28 points; she hit 7-of-17 from the floor and 14-of-20 from the foul line. Eilert also led the squad in assists with seven and pulled down three boards. Kristin Waters scored 11 on 5-of-8 shooting while Cassi Spleiss, despite playing less than five first-half minutes, bucketed 10 points, as did Randi Lucas. Katy McGrath brought down 10 rebounds and was just one point shy of hitting a double-double, scoring nine.
The Lady Bulldogs have one regular season game left as they host the Bethel College Lady Threshers on February 16
th with start time set for 5:00 p.m. (CT)
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