Lindsborg, Kan. – After a tough loss on Saturday at Friends University, the McPherson College women's basketball team, bounced back with a much needed victory at Bethany College. In a sloppy and disjointed game that featured several stoppages due to technical difficulties with the shot clock, and a combined 42 turnovers from both teams, the Bulldogs outlasted the Swedes 60-54.
The Bulldogs trailed just one time in the game. They led at the end of the first quarter 10-7, then extended the lead to eight at the halftime intermission, 25-17. In the third quarter, the Bulldogs led by as many as 11 early on, but the Swedes went on a run late in the period, to trim the Bulldog lead down to six, 40-34.
In the final period, the Swedes picked up where they left off, and opened the quarter by scoring eight of the first eleven points, to take a one point lead, 44-43 with seven minutes left to play. During the Swede run, the Bulldogs got rattled, and panicked a little bit on the offensive end of the floor. After the Swedes took the lead,
Bela Raimondi (Sr. Costa Mesa, Calif.) hit a big three pointer to put the Bulldogs back up by two, 46-44. Over the final six minutes, the Swedes, tied the game two more times, but the Bulldogs never surrendered the lead again. They did a nice job of knocking down their free throws late in the quarter, and in the end, the finished with a six point lead, 60-54.
Statistically, neither team shot the bell particularly well. The Bulldogs were right at 30% from the floor, while the Swedes were just slightly better at 32%. From behind the arc, each team drained four threes, but it was the free throw line where the game was won. The Bulldogs had struggled mightily from the charity stripe all season, but on this night they made 22 of 30 attempts for 73%, while the home team shot 82%, but they went to the line just 17 times, making 14 of their attempts. On the glass, the Swedes held the advantage 42 to 36, but the Bulldogs had 17 turnovers compared to the Swedes, who finished the night with 25.
Asya Tims (Jr. Ada, Okla.), who has picked up the slack on the offensive end since
Sonerka White (Sr. Houston, Texas), went down with an injury, had another big night for the Bulldogs. She led all scorers in the game with 21 points, making 5 of 11 from the floor, and 11 of 14 from the free throw line. Joining her in double figures was
Brittany Roberts (So. Mansfield, Texas), who tallied 13.
"I was really pleased with our toughness tonight," said Bulldog head coach
Josh Nichols. "We gutted out a win on the road against a talented team, and we did so with excellent defense.", Nichols added "We have several players banged up, including Brooke [DeLuca], who was battling an illness tonight, but once again, we had a number of players step up. And Asya really closed the game for us."
With the win, the Bulldogs move to 8-6 overall, and after opening up KCAC play 0-5, they have won three of their last four to improve their conference record to 3-6. They will get another chance to move up in the KCAC standings this weekend, when they host the University of Saint Mary Spires on Saturday at 3:00 pm at the McPherson Sport Center.
MC (60) – Tims (21), Roberts (13), Gillen (8), Raimondi (7), Harlow (5), Olvera (2), Potter (2), Holt (2).
