Five Score in Double Figures as Leathernecks Win at Home
Leatherneck women's basketball hosted Southern Illinois-Edwardsville Sunday afternoon (Dec. 11) at Western Hall, defeating the Cougars 83-77. The victory marks Western's second-straight and third in its last four, with the non-league finale slated for this coming Friday (Dec. 16) at the Vibrant Arena at The Mark in Moline, Ill.
"It really was a team effort on the defensive end," head coach JD Gravina said. "I thought we played really well defensively against Valpo and even SEMO, we just played hard and that's something I told this team that I've been impressed with all year, even when our offense was struggling. We're still playing hard defensively and I think we've continued to get better at it and we've embraced being more of a man-to-man team… If we can figure out how to be a little bit more creative against size I like our chances."
The Cougars came out firing early, hitting nine of their first 12 attempts and five from deep to build a 26-12 advantage with 2:01 to go in the first. Western responded, however, using a Mallory McDermott and-one in the waning seconds of the first to build some momentum that would turn a seven-point deficit into a seven-point advantage.
"I'm excited that our depth is starting to be a positive. Early in the year I thought it was kind of a negative that we were running people in and out and trying to find a rotation," Gravina said. "You don't even call them a second group because they're really just more of the same who came in, and I thought they really picked our intensity up and crawled us right back into the game right from the jump which was really encouraging."
In total, the run spanned from 1:47 in the first until 2:54 in the second quarter and saw Western out-score SIUE 25-4, with Addi Brownfield scoring 13 of those points. Both teams traded buckets in the final two minutes but it was WIU 44, SIUE 39 after 20 minutes of action.
The Cougars would use the third quarter to battle back, taking a lead with 2:56 remaining after draining a shot from deep. The Leathernecks, however, did what they did all game – responded. Anna Deets drained a three one minute later to reclaim the lead and ignite another Western Illinois run, which lasted until the 8:13 mark in the fourth quarter and saw Western score nine-straight to build a 66-58 advantage.
SIUE found some offense in the final 10 minutes and brought the game to within a single point mid-way through the period but was unsuccessful in taking control, as Western battled its way to an 83-77 victory.
Brownfield led all scorers with a career-best 21 points on 5-6 shooting and 10-12 at the line, also finishing with four rebounds, one assist and three steals in 26 minutes of action. Jada Thorpe scored 16 and hit 2-3 from deep while McDermott was a perfect 5-5 at the line while scoring 13 points. Deets scored 13 and finished with three steals and one block while leading the team in minutes (35) and made three pointers (three), while Elizabeth Lutz rounded out the double-digit scorers with 10 points, four rebounds and two steals. Alissa Dins grabbed six boards in 32 minutes on the floor.
"I thought we had a lot of kids play well, we handled the ball against their pressure which was going to be a big point of emphasis," Gravina said. "(Addi Brownfield) for sure, Anna Deets did so many good things for us. Mallory McDermott is one of those kids I talked about that came in and has really improved defensively, she had a great boxout rebound at a really big point, so kind of some unsung heroes like that I think are really important. (Jada Thorpe) made some clutch plays and I think that was important."
As a team Western shot a season-high 49% from the field and also made a season-high 79.4% of its free throw attempts, finishing 27-34. The Leathernecks finished with 12 steals and two blocks while scoring 23 points off turnovers and 12 points in transition; both teams scored 36 in the paint.
Western Illinois women's basketball plays its next game at the Vibrant Arena at The Mark in Moline, Ill., hosting Saint Xavier on Friday (Dec. 16). Tip off is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.
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