McPHERSON, Kan. (macbulldogs.com) --- McPherson College dropped a 54-50 decision to Southwestern College in a Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC) women's basketball contest Saturday afternoon at the Sport Center.
Brooklyn Coe (Corvallis, Ore., Chemeketa CC) scored 17 points and pulled down five rebounds, while
Cami Richardson (Hesston, Kan., Hesston HS) added 13 points, four rebounds, four assists and two steals for the Bulldogs, who close the season at 13-17 overall and 8-14 in the KCAC.
Jordyn Miller had a game-high 20 points on 8-of-16 shooting with eight rebounds, two assists and two blocked shots to lead Southwestern (14-16, 10-12 KCAC). Me'Shelle Parker added 11 points, seven rebounds, five steals and two assists, while Kenzi Taylor had six point, six rebounds, six blocks, two assists and a steal.
McPherson jumped out to an early 8-0 lead with Southwestern finally getting on the board with 3-pointer by Parker at the 6:02 mark. The Lady Builders took a huge chunk out the Bulldog advantage with a 9-3 run. Parker drained another trey in the waning seconds of the opening stanza to cut the McPherson lead to a single point after a quarter. Richardson had five points and three assists in the first quarter, while
Danielle Holt (Glenpool, Okla., Glenpool HS) added four points and five boards.
Southwestern grabbed its first lead of the game on a 3-pointer by Taylor Henderson just 30 seconds into the second quarter. The teams traded the lead back and fourth the rest of the half. A basket by Richardson tied the game at 24 with 1:47 to play, but McPherson couldn't grab the lead as Southwestern finished the half on a 4-1 run to lead 28-25 at the break.
A basket by Miller early in the third quarter pushed the Lady Builder lead to five, but the Bulldogs chipped away at the advantage, using a 6-1 run to tie the game at 31 on a pair of free throws at the 6:31 mark. The next points came over two minutes later as
Brooke Racette (Hutchinson, Kan., Trinity Catholic HS) hit a shot to put McPherson up a pair with 4:20 to play, but the lead exchanged hands seven times over the next three minutes, leaving Southwestern with a 42-40 lead on a 3-pointer by Miller. After a pair of empty possessions each way, Parker hit a layup to extend the lead to four. A free throw by
Brooke Zimmerman (Aurora, Colo., Western Nebraska CC) made it a 44-41 game headed to the final quarter.
Coe drained a 3-pointer out of the quarter break to tie the game at 44. After Miller and Coe swapped baskets on consecutive possessions, the Lady Builders went on a 6-0 run, holding the Bulldogs without a point for over six minutes. McPherson missed 11 straight shots from the field and turned it over twice before Richardson scored with 1:34 remaining. She added a running layup with 15.3 to play to cut the deficit to two points, but Miller scored on a breakaway off an inbounds pass with nine seconds left to provide the final margin.
McPherson owned a commanding 48-35 edge on the boards, including 20-9 on the offensive glass, but couldn't get the shots to fall. The Bulldogs shot 29.0 percent (18-of-62) overall compared to 37.5 percent (21-of-56) for the Lady Builders. McPherson also had more chances at the line (17) than Southwestern (10), but could only connect on 11. Southwestern also drained eight 3-pointers compared to just three for McPherson. The Lady Builders also had 10 blocked shots.
In addition to Coe and Richardson, Holt added six points and a game-high nine rebounds for McPherson and
Emma Van Donselaar (Shawnee, Kan., Shawnee Mission West HS) had five points and five rebounds.
The Bulldogs finished ninth in the KCAC, two games back of the Lady Builders and Oklahoma Wesleyan, who finished in a tie for seventh at 10-12 in league play. With no seniors and just two juniors on McPherson's 2016-2017 squad, there is plenty of optimism for 2017-2018. Ten players played in at least 19 games this season, including four freshmen. Richardson started all 30 games, while Holt started 28. Coe, a transfer junior in her first year with the program, started 29 out of a possible 29, while sophomores Battle and Zimmerman registered 27 and 25 starts, respectively. Racette recorded 10 starts and logged the fifth-most minutes on the team.
