 |  |
UCM Women Down SBU in MIAA Opener, 69-60
By David Boyce
WARRENSBURG, Mo. -- Southwest Baptist women's basketball bolted into the Multipurpose Building Wednesday evening and briefly gave a scare to Central Missouri.
The Bearcats jumped to a quick eight-point lead.
"This is a tough place to play so I was glad we came out and played with confidence," Southwest Baptist coach J.C. Carter said.
But Central Missouri proved it currently has more experienced depth.
Juniors Becca Roberts and Kara Fleming came off the bench and provided a spark.
Central Missouri erased the deficit, took a seven-point lead at halftime and maintained a comfortable advantage in the second half.
The Jennies have a lot to be excited about in their 69-60 victory. It was the MIAA opener for both teams. Central Missouri improved to 4-2 overall.
"It was really exciting," said Central Missouri junior Danielle Shows, who was playing in her first MIAA conference game.
"We knew we had to win and go out there and play hard."
Besides the solid contributions from Roberts and Fleming, Shows gave a performance worth watching, especially in the first half when her offensive spurt provided a cushion the Jennies never relinquished. She finished with 14 points.
"She (Shows) is a very interesting player," Central Missouri coach Dave Slifer said. "She is quick. She makes a lot happen and a lot of times it is good things that happen."
Despite falling to 1-5, Southwest Baptist demonstrated the type of grit that should produce wins in the MIAA.
The Bearcats trailed 47-33 and refused to let the game get out of hand. An inside basket by Abbey Frazier helped Southwest Baptist close to 48-38.
Carter said right now his team is playing well for 35 minutes. It's the other 5 minutes that is hurting the Bearcats.
"We are playing a lot of freshmen," Carter said. We have a good group. We got to stay positive with them."
Central Missouri gave the young Bearcats a lesson on how to answer runs.
Roberts, who finished with 19 points, answered Frazier with a bucket.
"The perimeter opened it up for me," Roberts said. "We have a bunch of great shooters. It makes it easier to post up inside."
Another time when Southwest Baptist's Courtney Heady hit a three-pointer to close to 62-48, Central Missouri responded with a three-pointer by Brittney Slifer, who finished with 11 points.
"You got to keep pushing the ball," Roberts said.
The way the Jennies played in the last 30 minutes was in sharp contrast to the first 10 minutes.
Southwest Baptist came out hot. Behind the scoring of junior guard Ashleigh Gallio, the Bearcats jumped to a 12-4 lead.
"We let them dictate and they did whatever they wanted," Central Missouri coach Dave Slifer said. "Our defensive pressure was very poor."
Central Missouri simply looked out of sync in the opening minutes. And then Fleming and Roberts came off the bench and the Jennies were off to the races. Fleming had five assists in the first half.
"They were our two leading scorers from last year," Slifer said. "They are coming off the bench and they are doing a great job sparking us."
Roberts scored Central Missouri's next eight points helping the Jennies close to 16-12, and then Slifer drilled a three-pointer, making it just a one-point deficit.
A minute later Central Missouri went ahead 19-18 on a basket by Shows, who got on a roll. Shows scored eight straight points to give the Jennies a 25-18 lead.
"One of the girls who guarded me said coach, ‘she's a lot faster than me.' So I used that to my advantage and went back door," Shows said.
Central Missouri went into halftime ahead 34-27. The last 10 minutes of the first half and throughout the second half the Jennies did a great job sharing the basketball.
"We get along well," Roberts said. "We got to all depend on each other because we don't have one dominant player."
To reach David Boyce, contributing writer for the MIAA, e-mail dboyce@themiaa.com.
