Women Earn Sixth Straight Win

The weekend games against Concordia and Corban were vital for our team to clinch the fourth place finish in the Cascade Collegiate Conference. The win against Concordia was especially important since they were close on our tail in the conference standings. Also, Corban is a talented team so they were not to be overlooked, especially on senior night. Every senior wants to win the last home game of their career, so we were determined.

Friday night’s game against Concordia showed what a well- rounded scoring team we have. Amanda Johnston posted 21 points on 6-15 shooting and Jenni Miiller added 16 on 6 of 8 shooting. We shot less than 28 percent from the floor and exactly 28 percent from the 3-point line, and still came away with the 58-50 win. I was proud of our team and the way we came together. We wanted to play our tempo of game, like always, and not let Concordia slow us down. We did a good job of that, and played well on the defensive end, only letting them score 50 points. We out rebounded them by eight and forced 15 turnovers.

The game was back and forth the whole time, and it wasn’t until we took the lead with five and half minutes left that we would never trail again. Jenni hit a 3-pointer to put us up by one and we took it from there. Our defense didn’t let them score again until there was just under a minute left when one of their players hit a free throw. We held them to one point in the last six minutes of the game, and that is what made all the difference. When a team is having a hard time scoring, they have to play defense or their chances of winning are slim. That is just what we did.

As always, our focus for Saturday night’s game against Corban College was defense. They have very good athletes, but for some reason they have not been able to get very many wins. We did not want this team to sneak up on us. They already had no chance of making it to the playoffs so they had nothing to lose; and they showed it.

We beat them by 18 in the first round of conference and they didn’t forget. They came out with energy and enthusiasm and stayed with us until the very end. It was an extremely close and exciting game. The end of the first half is a great example: we were tied with 42 seconds left, and then Amanda hit a three-pointer with six seconds left to put us up by three going into the locker room. It is always great to get a lead, no matter how small, and have that momentum going into halftime.

The second half was just like the first, with multiple ties throughout the 20 minutes. Our lead after the last tie with just less than nine minutes left would be the last lead change of the game. We kept our positive gain going with smart shots, made free-throws and tough defense. What’s interesting is that if the statistics from both teams are compared, they are almost exactly even; except for the fouls. Corban fouled nine more times than we did, and we shot 12 more free-throws than them. I think that is what made the difference in the game. We won by five, and we made 10 more free throws than them.

The Corban game was senior night for the women too. Jenna Ball, Jenni Miiller and me (all transfers) played our last scheduled home game. It was a little different, because we all knew that we would have a home playoff game so it wasn’t really our last home game, but it still special nonetheless. It was great to have all our families come and congratulate us and get recognized by our fans. The only thing I didn’t like was that we were announced and given our gifts during the half-time of the men’s game. I have NEVER seen this happen, and I have seen a lot of senior nights. I wished that we could have done our thing before our game, just like Fiegi got to do. The argument was that if we did it during the men’s game there would be more people there. But, why would a bunch of people who don’t come to watch our game anyway, care about our senior night presentation? They probably wouldn’t. I think it kind of showed during our announcements when I couldn’t even hear what they were saying about each of us because too many people were talking. I know it is impossible to get that many people to be quiet all at one time, but it would have been nice if I could have at least heard what they were saying. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate our fans and the support they give us, and how big and loud our applause was; but I think it would have been a lot more special if we did it at the beginning of our game. Maybe that is something that could be changed in the future, as long as future players share the same feelings as me.