Well, we're coming down the home stretch and things are coming more and more into focus for us as a team. Truth is we (players and coaches) can see our strengths and weaknesses, but reality is that time is running out to correct and improve. Never was this more evident for us than the past two games.
On Saturday we traveled to Ironwood, MI to play at Gogebic Community College. We had lost to them earlier in our gym by 13. Traditionally in the past we have gone there and not been very competitive. We talked about some obvious areas of emphasis, and played pretty well. A late basket after an offensive rebound gave them a 26-24 halftime lead. Not bad considering we trailed by as many as 12 in the first half. We came out strong in the 2nd half and took the lead by as many as 5 points. However, foul trouble once again became an issue, and we found ourselves down by as many as 11 with just four minutes remaining. The girls turned up the full-court defensive pressure and over the next three minutes cut the lead to three, but that was as close as we could get, dropping a 66-61 decision.
Tiff led us with 27 points, Lyds added 17and Ellie 10. While tallying a lower than usual 6 rebounds in the game, Rebekah contributed in other ways with 4 assists and 4 steals.
On Monday afternoon we traveled to Watertown, WI for the best rivalry in Christian sports - our games with Maranatha. The MBBC women have been dominant in the NCCAA Midwest region, winning 28 consecutive games against Midwest opponents. Long-time coach, and current friend, Clayton Morrison does a fantastic job with his teams year in and year out. This may be his best coaching job in my five years in the region as he has a team made up primarily of underclassmen, and regularly starts at least four freshmen. They are talented and deep, so we were aware it would take our best effort to compete. Add to it that there would be a crowd of 500+ throughout the game, bulding in the 2nd half to 1000+ as we approached the tip time for the guys' game.
We started fairly well, and kept it close early on. However it became obvious to me in the first four minutes of the contest we would struggle to compete because of the tightly officiated contest. With 15:00 left in the first half, Tiff and Ellie had two fouls each, and we had five as a team. The half played out well as both temas exchanged the lead a few times, MBBC going up by as many as 7, but us cutting it to 39-35 on a jumpshpt by Jenna with 10 seconds remaining. We shot 45% in the first half, and knew exactly what we needed to do to pull of the upset in the 2nd half. First, our defense was as poor as we have played in years. And for a team that shoots 62% from the ft line for the season, we were 6 of 18 from the line in the half. But the most troubling and glaring issue on the stat sheet was the foul count. Tiff, Ellie and Jenna all had 3 fouls, and Rebekah and Lyds had 2. To be fair, the officials were calling fouls at an alarming rate on BOTH teams. However, our issues involved all of our starters. There would be no way to compete at this rate.
We had a phenomenal start to the 2nd half. We strted on a 7-0 run to take a 3 point lead in the first 4 minutes, but after a miss on the offensive end, a whistle came that changed how we played the rest of the game: 4th foul on Jenna. We played as well as possible for the next four minutes, and with 12:00 left, trailed 48-44. It was then we hit the wall, and watched as MBBC began hitting inside and out, finishing the game on a 27-8 run to capture a 79-56 win. It does us no good to say that the game was closer than the score indicates because we honestly didn't care. We came to win, played well enough for 28 minutes to do so, but didn't close. Give Clayton and MBBC all of the credit. They are extremely talented and well-coached. It is awfully difficult to see frehman guard Autumn Peotter on the other sideline. She was a long-time basketball camper that I grew to really love and appreciate. She is an outstanding player, but more importantly, an outstanding young lady. She played a great game for the Crusaders.
Tiff once again led us in scoring with 19 points (5 of 12 from 3-pt). Jenna added 17 points and 10 rebounds, Lydia 7 points, 3 assists and 2 steals, and Rebekah 14 rebounds. Brooke Byard gave us a lift off of the bench with five points including a huge 3-point basket in the 1st half. But our poor free throw shooting carried into the 2nd half, and we finished a staggering 10 of 31 in the game.
The loss drops us to 8-11 on the season, 4-3 in the region, and likely a 3-seed in the Midwest tounament next week. It was great seeing Utica Christian School senior Erin Steuerwald and her family at the game. Erin is a wonderful young Christian lady that happens to play a good game of basketball!
It was exciting to see our guys pull out a big win in the night-cap in front of 1,000+ fans and an extrremely slippery court (due to a roof leak and humid conditions). The atmosphere is unequaled, and always incredible to watch hundreds of studnets from both schools flood the floor after the game to reminisce about high school, church, missions trips, and summer camp ministries together!
After arriving back on campus at about 2am, were back in the gym at 3:30pm to keep getting better in preparation for the weekend in Minneapolis.
Thanks for reading!
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