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Megan Brownell photojournalist
This past week, the women’s basketball team hosted two conference matchups at John Lance Arena. They first took on the Missouri Western State University Griffons on Nov. 30, and then the Northwest Missouri State University Bearcats on Dec 3. They lost in OT to the Griffons, 80-74, and beat the Bearcats 71-66.
The game against the Griffons was a hard fought game. They ended the first quarter down 20-13, and after both teams scored 12 in the second went into halftime down 32-25. The Griffons lead by 14 at one point, but the Gorillas battled to stay in the game. The third quarter was the same, before a 22-15 fourth quarter brought the Gorillas up, but a three pointer from the Griffons late in the game forced overtime. They had a chance to win in regulation, but a turnover occurred and they were not able to pull away in overtime, taking the loss.
Looking towards the rest of the season, fifth year guard Erin Davis believes that they could win in the future.
“I feel like we really competed as a team,” Davis said. “We all competed really well, I feel like we could have had the Western game but having another chance later in the season I feel like we can get that.”
Top scorers for the Gorillas were sophomore forward Karenna Gerber with 20 points, fifth year guard Tristan Gegg with 23 points, sophomore guard Grace Pyle had 13 points, and Davis with eight points. Top rebounders for the Gorillas were Gerber with 17, sophomore guard Sydney Holmes and Pyle with eight each, and freshman guard Harper Schreiner with seven, who also had six assists.
“My offense hasn’t been working out right now, but my defense has been doing pretty well and making sure I can stay on top of that and just contribute to my team defensively,” Davis said.
They then moved on to play the Bearcats on Dec. 3. From a layup and block with 25 seconds left to play from Holmes, PSU was able to seal the win by six. PSU played well, ending each quarter being up and going into the half up 35-33. They were able to somewhat pull away despite a Bearcat fight outsourcing PSU 21-17 in the fourth quarter. They were still able to take away with the win, thanks to an outsourcing of 17-5 on free throws.
Looking back on the energy at the game, Davis thought that was a factor of winning the game.
“I feel like the energy was great, we had a mindset we wanted to dominate the game and that’s what we did,” Davis said.
Top scorers for the Gorillas on Saturday were Gerber with 23, Gegg and Pyle with 13 points, and Holmes with 11 points. Top rebounders for the Gorillas were Gerber with nine and Pyle with seven.
The women’s team will continue conference play with two away matchups at Newman University on Dec. 7 at 5:30 p.m, and then at University of Central Oklahoma Dec. 11 at 1:30 p.m. They will also have six conference games over winter break, three home and three away. They will also have a non-conference matchup against Tabor College.
“I think we are ready, and to make sure we get these next three wins even against UCM and continue to do one game at a time,” Davis said.