Sport in world

Western comes from behind to defeat UMKC 68-54

February 1, 2008 on 10:15 pm | In Athletics |

KANSAS CITY, Mo. Junior Amanda Walker went 4-for-6 from
beyond the three-point line on her way to 16 points in the Western Illinois
women’s basketball team’s 68-54 victory over UMKC in the opening conference
road game of the 2007-08 season at Municipal Auditorium.

Walker
was among three players with double-digit point totals as junior Katy Davenport
tallied a career-high 17 points and senior Gina Hugelier added 16. The
Westerwinds (4-9, 2-0 The Summit League) almost saw all five starters in double
digits as senior Stephanie Lovingood and sophomore Jordon O’Brien each netted
nine points.

“It is a great feeling to win this game,” said head coach
Leslie Crane. “The team did a great job tonight. We were able to defeat them on
the boards and when you beat a good team like UMKC on the boards it is a good
thing.”

Western started the second half down by two points (26-24)
and saw the Kangaroos (7-7, 0-3 The Summit League) pull ahead by five with a
5-2 run in the first 3:30. The Westerwinds then went on an 8-4 run of their own
to pull the score within one point (35-34).

UMKC pulled back out to a four-point lead (40-36) before
Western started a 7-0 run from 13:30 to 9:00 to take the final lead of the game
(43-40). The Westerwinds ended the final three minutes on a 16-6 run, with most
of their points coming from the charity stripe.

Both teams started the game with strong defense, holding
each other scoreless until 17:49 remaining in the first half when Davenport hit a free
throw. Western was the first team to score a basket with 17:25 remaining. The
Westerwinds held the Kangaroos off the scoreboard until 17:10 when Alysa Klein
hit a layup.

UMKC was down by one point until they started an 8-1 run
over a four-minute span to take a 12-6 advantage (14:00-10:45). Western
returned the favor with a 9-2 run over the next five minutes to take a short
15-14 lead.

Both teams then traded baskets and five-point runs before
the Kangaroos took a small, 26-24, lead into the locker room.

The Westerwinds finished the game with a 41.5 (22-53)
shooting percentage after going 14-28 (50%) in the final 20 minutes of the
game. Western also out-rebounded UMKC 43-33, including a 30-19 mark on the
defensive side to help them to victory.

“When our guards can get as many rebounds as they did (14)
you are going to win games because they are running shots down,” Crane said. “We
learned in the first semester that if we were able to rebound with teams you
stay in the ball game and control the tempo.”

The Westerwinds travel to Cedar City,
Utah for the final leg of a five-game road
trip, Monday, January 7 against Southern Utah.
Tip-off is schedule for 8 p.m. (CST) at Centrum Arena.

Notes: Lovingood ended the game with a career-high 15 rebounds…Western’s starters tallied all but one of the
Westerwinds points in the game…sophomore Katy Clark recorded a single
free-throw for the lone point by a non-starter.

Quotes:
Western Illinois Head Coach Leslie Crane
“We stayed within our game plan. You have to credit Jordon
[O’Brien] and Samantha [Quigle] to tire out Sierra Radke as she didn’t play
much of the last three of four minutes. Radke had three critical turnovers at
half-court because of the pressure we had on her.”

“The three things that we talked about that we were able to
do were to take away the transition, keep Radke from getting the ball, and keep
Klien from scoring a lot of points.”

“Amanda had the time that she needs to feel comfortable
shooting the ball from beyond the arc because our guards did a good job of
running the weave play and setting the screen in the second half.”

Originaly from Source