By Drew Brunecz
The women's basketball team suffered their first loss tonight, against a very good Oklahoma Wesleyan team. The Eagles are receiving votes in the NAIA top 25 poll, and they played like it. The Bulldogs lost a close one, 71-62.
The first quarter was a tight defensive battle, as McPherson lead only 14-13 at the end of the period. The Bulldogs showed a lot of fight in the first quarter. They didn't have the lead until there was 45 seconds left in the quarter, when they took the lead on a
Sonerka White (Sr. Houston, Texas) fast break basket.
The second quarter is when the Eagles started to build their lead. The Bulldogs opened the quarter by scoring three straight unanswered points, and that is when Oklahoma Wesleyan turned it on. They stormed back to take the lead, and they didn't lose it for the rest of the game.
Oklahoma Wesleyan started to really pull away in the third quarter, as they had a lead as big as 15 at one point. The Bulldogs would not go away though, they cut the lead down to only nine by the end of the third. The fourth quarter is where it got interesting. McPherson had a lot of fight still left in them, as they closed the gap to only four points for a moment, but could not close it completely. In the end, the Eagle held on for a nine point victory on the Bulldogs' home floor.
The downfall for the Bulldogs was at the free-throw line. They went a combined 15/34, leaving 19 points on the board. That was good for only 44% shooting percentage from the line. In the past few games the Bulldogs have dominated on the boards, but tonight they lost the rebound battle, as Oklahoma Wesleyan pulled in nine more rebounds than them, in a 46-37 advantage.
The leading scorer for McPherson was once again
Sonerka White, who scored 19 overall points in 25 minutes of play. The next leading scorer for the Bulldogs was
Brittany Roberts (So. Mansfield, Texas), who scored 12 points. Roberts was also the leading rebounder with nine, while
Danielle Holt (Jr. Glenpool, Okla.) had eight of her own.
Asya Tims (Jr. Ada, Okla.), was the leader in assists with three.
"The free throw line beat us tonight," said McPherson head coach
Josh Nichols. "We just can't leave that many points off the board in tight games." He continued, "I Loved our effort played hard just too many 2nd chance points and missed free throws."
The Bulldogs will try to get back to their winning ways as they travel to Kansas City to take on Avila University on Saturday, November 17
th, at 3:00 PM.
MC (62) – White (19), Roberts (12), Raimondi (7), Harlow (6), Holt (5), DeLuca (5), Tims (3)
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