Winfield, Kan. – After a heartbreaking loss at home, on Monday, to Sterling College, the McPherson College women's basketball team went on the road Thursday to take on the Southwestern College Moundbuilders. The Bulldogs bounced back from their tough loss to the Warriors, by defeating Southwestern 73-68, and completing the season sweep of the Moundbuilders.
The Bulldogs led from start to finish, trailing just once, early in the first quarter 4-3. From there, they outscored the Builders 16 to 8, to end the first quarter on top 19-12.Early in the second frame, the Bulldogs pushed their lead out to double digits, before Southwestern pushed back and trimmed the lead down to 6 with 7:01 to play in the half. Over the final seven minutes, the Bulldogs extended their lead back out to double digits, leading by 12 at the break, 36-24.
After the intermission, the Bulldogs continued to keep up the pressure, and heading into the final period, they had extended their lead to 14, 59-45. In the final 10 minutes, it was the Builders that picked up the pressure. They slowly began to chip away at the Bulldog lead, trimming it down to five, 62-57, with just under six minutes remaining in regulation. But the Bulldogs didn't falter, and down the stretch they held off the Builders thanks in part to some stellar play by
Brooke DeLuca (Sr. Hutchinson, Kan.), who scored 6 of her 14 points in the 4
th quarter, including going 4 for 4 from the free throw line in the final 1:17. As the clock showed zeros, the Bulldogs held on to their five point advantage, winning 73-68.
DeLuca's 14 points paced the Bulldogs, who had four players finish with double figures. Joining her were
Asya Tims (Jr. Ada, Okla.) with 12, and
Danielle Holt (Jr. Glenpool, Okla.) and
Brittany Roberts (So. Mansfield, Texas), who added 10. The Bulldogs did a nice job of taking care of the ball, in the face of the pressure by the Moundbuilders, finishing the game with only 12 turnovers. They also did good job on the glass. They won the rebounding battle, 42 to 36, and 18 of their boards came on the offensive end of the floor, which they turned into 26 second chance points.
"Overall I didn't think we played to our best, but we played well enough to win" said Bulldog head coach
Josh Nichols. "Give credit to the Moundbuilder,s they hung around and never let us blow it open." He lauded his team's offensive effort saying, "I thought we were very balanced on the offensive end, and we shot it well from the free throw line." He wrapped things up by adding, "A road win the KCAC take it any way we can."
With the win, the Bulldogs are now 8-16 overall, and 4-14 in the KCAC. They will look to make it two wins in a row, when they go back out on the road on Saturday, to take on the York College Panthers at 3:00 pm in York, Nebraska.
MC (73) – DeLuca (14), Tims (12), Holt (10), Roberts (10), Raimondi (7), Gillen (7), Moseley (6), Olvera (4), Potter (2), Harlow (1).
