Kalamazoo Valley - 73
Kankakee CC - 68 |
| Two nationally ranked
teams square off at Cougar Arena |
|
Anytime the Kankakee Cavaliers come
to town you can be sure of one thing - the game will be hotly contested
and the outcome in doubt until the very end. Saturday's game
between the 11th ranked Cavs and the 6th ranked Lady Cougars was no
different. The game was not decided until "Spanky" Karasiewicz
drained two clutch free throws with 5.7 seconds left to give the
home-standing Cougars a 5 point lead.
"We had two traditionally strong, nationally
recognized programs in the house today." Said an elated Coach Welch after the
game. "With the way the game started off it would have been
easy for us to lose focus, but we had several people step up and make
some good things happen." Welch was making reference to the
injury to freshman Jealyn Foston on the game's first scoring play.
Foston made an outstanding move to the hoop and scored the layup, but
came down wrong, twisted her knee and did not return to the contest.
She will have the knee evaluated on Monday.
"We were completely out of sync offensively
in the first half, but our defense kept the contest close and we went in
only down three points (36-33) at the half.," continued
Welch. "I didn't feel like we were attacking at either end of
the floor in the first half. It felt like we were 10-12 points
down and going nowhere fast. Kankakee shot 53% in the first half and out
rebounded us 14-10. They were definitely the aggressors and we
were playing a little "soft" on defense, giving up open ten foot jumpers
without a challenge."
An energized Cougar team came out of the locker
room and really competed in the second half. "We started to dominate the backboards, out
rebounding the taller Cavs by a 29-14 count and started really
challenging every shot." explained the Coach. "Megan Holland, Kim Gear
and Chelsea Acker were extremely active on the boards and Kendra Kutz really pursued
the ball well. That's the way we're supposed to rebound!
Our rebounding really fueled our break and at about the 8 minute mark
you could see that the full court pressure and pushing the ball up the
floor on offense was beginning to take it's toll on the Kankakee team."
Commented Welch. Holland led the rebounding parade with 11 and
Gear had 8. Kutz had 10 caroms and Acker chipped in 7.
The Cougars placed four players in double figures
with Gear's 17 followed closely by Kortni Matteson's 16. Holland added
12, with 10 of those coming in the second half, and Betsey Dennis had
10, on 4 for 5 shooting and two clutch 'threes' down the stretch. "We have a
lot of
weapons and we're getting solid contributions from a lot of people. Betsey's
two threes were big. The last one came after they had gotten a
triple and it was like, 'Right back at ya!' I'm really happy for
Betsey. She's had a tough time of it in the pre-league season."
Continued Welch. "Kendra Kutz also came in off the bench and gave
us some real positive energy. She's beginning to play within
herself and brings a great deal of athleticism to our team."
Welch also threw some plaudettes
toward the two gals that work the point guard position for the Cougars.
"Amber Peters, who's still nursing an ankle injury, and Samantha 'Spanky'
Karasiewicz are leading the the Cougar offense and doing a spectacular
job. Between those two we're getting over 9 assists a game.
(Karasiewicz had eight on the day and Peters dished out 5) Plus, they are both very good defenders -
doing it different ways. Amber's
very strong and Sam does it with her quickness. It's a nice
combination and they can both stay fresh during the game."
With the Christmas break next up for the
Lady Cougars, they'll have about 10 days to heal up and refresh for the
tough Western Conference season. They open with two games on the
road - at Grand Rapids on January 4th and at Lake Michigan on the 6th.
"Neither of those places are easy to play in and both teams have
outstanding coaches." Cautioned Welch. "It's
essential that we come
back focused and energized, or we could find ourselves in a hole early."
The Cougars take a 9-3 record and # 6 ranking into league play.
They come back to practice on the 27th.
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A
Coach Welch Game Summary
