Women’s basketball extends win streak to five 

Megan Brownell photojournalist  

This past week, the PSU women’s basketball team went on the road to Claremore, OK., to take on the Rogers State University Hillcats on Jan 19 and took a 40 point win 87-47. Next, on Jan. 21 they traveled to Taquelah, OK., to take on the Northeastern State University Riverhawks. They won there as well, 82-70 from sophomore forward Karenna Gerber’s game high 19 points.  

In the first game against the Hillcats, a game high performance of 25 points from fifth year Tristan Gegg helped pull the Gorillas out to the 40 point win. Redshirt sophomore guard Jenna Shipley says how fun it was to win big on the road. 

“It was super fun winning by 40 points, when we are making shots and everyone is excited for each other and we just get into that rhythm it makes it really fun,” Shipley said.  

From the start of the game, it was all PSU, from the first quarter lead being 23-8. Another big second quarter took the halftime score to 43-24. Both defense and offense stayed strong after the break, and after holding the Hillcats to only seven points in the fourth quarter, the Gorillas soared to the 40 point win. Head coach Amanada Davied said how she feels with the win and how good it was for them to build upon their lead.  

“Rogers has given us some fits in the last couple years, and it is never easy but that night happened to be our night,” Davied said. “ Our girls took advantage with shooting and we don’t want to get even and fight to get up again, you want to be that team steady in your approach and build your lead.”   

Other top scores for the game were Gerber with 11 and fifth year guard Erin Davis with 10. Sophomore guard Grace Pyle had a double-double, with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Other top rebounders were Shipley with seven rebounds, sophomore guard Sydney Holmes with seven rebounds, and Gerber with six rebounds. Davied also said how she feels everyone got some good time on the court and the good advantage to that. 

“Overall our bench scoring and rebounding was a good highlight, everyone got to go in and play a role,” Davied said. “ We want to be playing our best ball in February and we are starting to individually get better.”  

They next went to NSU and took another win to extend their current win streak to five games. This game was all Gorillas, never being down and even held a 26 point lead at once. This showed, going into halftime with a 42-33 lead. They continued after the half scoring 21-11 against the Riverhawks in the third quarter. The Riverhawks tried to comeback in the fourth, outscoring 26-19, but PSU held on for the 12 point win. Shipley said how hard road games can be in this conference, but the team did what they needed to win. 

“I felt like we played pretty well, considering road games are always hard in the MIAA, but we played our game and stuck to our game plan and it’s always good when shots are going in,” Shipley said.   

Though Gegg’s 25 points helped pull the win, some other top scorers were Gerber with 19 points, Pyle with 13 points, and Shipley with 10 points. Top rebounder for the Gorillas was freshman guard Harper Schreiner with seven rebounds. Shipley also said how she personally feels that she played during the games.  

“I was pretty happy with my play in both games, but especially happy with my defense, trying to do what we stress about in practice and trying to contribute on the rebounds,” Shipley said.  

The Lady Gorillas hope to extend their winning streak with a home conference game with Newman University Jets Jan 28. at 1:30 p.m.