Lawrence, Kan. – The opening game of the 2014-15 season for McPherson College was against Haskell Indian Nations University on Saturday. The night did not go quite as planned for the Bulldogs as they dropped a 76-56 contest to HINU with turnovers looming large for MC.
With multiple new pieces in the lineup for Mac, it took them a while for the team to mesh; this was apparent in the early stages of the game as the Indians got up quck. The Lady 'Dogs fought back and led by as many as six before the 10-minute mark of the opening half. Hampered by fouls, Coach Reimer had to go to his subs earlier than planned which led to multiple turnovers and allowed HINU to take a 36-26 lead into the locker room. The Indians were 6-of-11 from downtown in the first half.
McPherson had 16 turnovers in their first 20 minutes of the season. On her birthday, Sunny Smart led all scorers with 12 points in the opening half; she was 4-of-7 from behind the arc heading into halftime.
Haskell returned all of their key components from last season's team and that cohesiveness was apparent in the first few minutes of the second half as the Indians increased their lead to 20+. The Bulldogs didn't go away and got their deficit back to single digits with eight minutes to play. After trading points for the next few minutes, HINU put the gas pedal back down and jumped in front by as many as 24. The Indians coasted the final few minutes and ended the night with a 20-point win, their second of the year.
MC shot the bell decently well in the opening period (45.5%) but had a rough second half as they made just 8-of-26 and went 0-of-7 from behind the arc; the team finished the game with a 76.2 free throw percentage as they hit on 16-of-21. The 'Dogs were outrebounded 43-33 and turned the ball over 27 times while stealing 10. 42 of McPherson's total were scored in the paint and 18 came from the bench.
Bailey Brown used the charity stripe (9-of-10) to push her to 15 points, leading the team; the junior led the team in rebounds as well with eight. Smart went 0-of-5 from the field in the second half, ending the game with 12 points. Australian native Georgia Smart was the final double-digit scorer for Mac as the junior totaled 10 on 5-of-8 shooting.
The Bulldogs' next game comes in Bartlesville, Oklahoma as they take on the Lady Eagles of Oklahoma Wesleyan University on November 4th; tipoff is set for 6:00 p.m. (CT)
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McPherson College is a Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference member school and a part of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics
