McPherson, Kan. – It wasn't pretty but the McPherson College women's basketball team won their first game of the year on Wednesday as they took down cross-town rival Central Christian College 76-52. The victory moves Mac to 1-4 on the year.
The first half was 20 minutes of ugly basketball, by both teams. Neither Central nor the Bulldogs could buy a bucket, especially early on. Balls finally started going in towards the end of the half but only three three-point tries out of 26 went through the net. MC turned the ball over 15 times in the opening period and trailed the Lady Tigers 34-27 at the break. The 'Dogs shot in 10-of-32 from the field while CCC hit 13-of-39.
In the second period, McPherson upped their game and just before the midway point, took control. The Bulldogs, fueled by a 9-0 run, overtook Central with 8:40 on the clock and got the lead for good less than 30 seconds later. On the shoulders of some Sunny Smart three balls, MC increased their gap on the Tigers to double-digits with five minutes to play. From then on, everything CCC put up wouldn't fall and Mac continued to hit shots, moving the lead to 20+ for the final three minutes. A couple late baskets brought the final score to 76-52. Shooting-wise, McPherson cashed in on 15-of-33 field goals including 8-of-16 from deep in the final 20; Central had a rough half, counting just 5-of-31 from the floor.
For the game, MC bucketed 38.5% of their 65 shot attempts, 25-of-65, and was 9-of-25 from downtown; despite going just 6-of-12 from the foul line in the first half, the 'Dogs ended the night making 17-of-28. The team outrebounded Central 62-42 and had 20 offensive boards; they scored 42 points in the paint and 26 second chance points.
Bailey Brown led the team in scoring with her 27 points on 6-of-11 shooting with one being from deep; the junior netted an incredible 14-of-16 from the charity stripe. Brown also had 12 rebounds, three assists, and three steals in her 32 minutes of action. Smart totaled 19 points as she made 7-of-16 field goals including 5-of-13 from range; she led the team in rebounds with 15 and in assists with four. Alicia Demerat brought in 11 rebounds and scored eight points despite only playing 14 minutes.
It's off to Iowa for the next two contests for McPherson as they travel to Des Moines for the AIB-College of Business Classic. MC will play AIB on Friday the 14th and Dakota State University on the 15th; Friday's game is at 7:00 p.m. (CT) and Saturday's is set for 1:00.
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McPherson College is a Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference member school and a part of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics
