The women’s basketball team defeated the Missouri Southern State University (MSSU) Lions on the road Saturday, Feb. 20 (78-60).
Since Jan. of 2010, the Gorillas have lost five of 23 games against MSSU.
Kaylee DaMitz, Tristan Gegg, and Sydnee Crain stood out to Head Coach Amanda Davied the most. The three combined for a total of 48 points.
“I thought we had a really good guard,” Davied said. “…Our juniors, Kaylee DaMitz, Tristan Gegg, Sydnee Crain combined for the majority of our points. We rotated a lot of people in, so they didn’t play a ton of minutes but really overall scored the basketball really well with high percentage shots. I think they shot 30 total field goals and only shot six of those as three-pointers with Kaylee and Sydnee going perfect from the three-point line. Kaylee really attacked well at the free throw line… (Sydnee Crain) played probably one of her best offensive games and she’s always giving us good energy on defense. So, it was just overall a great game for her. I think she had 16 points… I think Kaylee had 17 and Tristan Gegg had 15. So, they really just did the bulk of our scoring. We had a lot of other players step in and really contribute well and play great defensive minutes. Abby Dietsche got to play quite a bit, 17 minutes, Ashton McCorry got almost 20 minutes… We were able to rotate a lot of people in just because we really did our work early, got a lead and the other kids went in and maintained it.”
DaMitz, a junior in finance, was happy to see the entire team contributing.
“I think we did really good,” DaMitz said. “I think we came out of the gate really hot… At some point we were up (by) 30. It was crazy, like it just happened so fast. Everyone was just really doing their part and really helping the team out.”
The Gorillas shot 41.7 percent from the field and converted 20 of 24 free throws.
“… (Our) defense (stood out to me),” DaMitz said. “I thought we were all just really sound. Everyone was talking and we were all just playing really as a unit. It feels good playing against Southern. Being so close (to home), we always want to win and with the rivalry against them, it felt good.”
Next up for the Gorillas is the last two games of the regular season. The Gorillas will end the season at home in Whetzel Court in John Lance Arena against Emporia State Thursday, Feb. 25 at 5:30 p.m. and Newman on Saturday, Feb. 27 at 1:30 p.m.
“Well, we want to finish strong at home,” Davied said. “It’s nice to have a home stand for your last two games. We’re excited about senior day on Saturday and we just want to really send our one senior, Maya Williams, on a great note and have a lot of confidence going into the MIAA tournament.”