Kalamazoo Valley Women's Basketball

November 18, 2006    KVCC (90) vs. Alpena C. C.(43) at Port Huron, MI

       Getting back into the flow and regaining their confidence, the Lady Cougars stormed out to a 44-22 halftime lead against a badly out-manned, but game, Alpena Lumberjack team and rolled to a 90-43 win in the cozy confines of the SC4 gymnaisium. "I was impressed with the way we maintained our focus and played the game even when the score got a bit lop-sided." praised veteran Cougar coach, Ron Welch.
       Again the Cougars dressed 14 players and all 14 scored as the bench scored an unbelievable 56 points.  "We have a lot of weapons." said Welch.  "The kids have bought into the concept of going hard while your in the game and then letting someone else go in and do it for a while.  This is a very unselfish team."
       Cassopolis sophomore Jealyn Foston continued her excellent play on the weekend leading the Cougars in scoring with 15 points and contributing 7 rebounds and 2 assists.  Niles sophomore Kate Whittaker was big on the boards again with 10 caroms and former Hackett Catholic star Amy Millard chipped in with 10 points off the bench.
       The Lady Cougars also got solid production from a pair of promising freshmen with Wayland's Shannon Dumond and Vicksburg's Heather Buren each tossing in 9 points.  The Cougars piled up 28 assists, led by "Spanky" Karasiewicz's six and 5 each from Charity Knight and Telisha Saunders.  "It's nice to see Telisha out there competing after having to sit out most of last year with an 'ouchy' knee."  Said Welch.  "She's a nice player and will contribute a lot this year if she can stay healthy."
        Another bright spot was the play of a continually improving Jacquel "Bouchy" Rogers.  "Bouchy's got another gear out there." Commented an impressed Welch.  "When she turns it on - and it's happening much more frequently - she's a very dangerous player.  Her six steals in tonight's game is only the tip of the iceberg of what she can do.  The more comfortable she gets with what we're trying to do on the floor she's gonna be something else!"

        All in all a pretty successful weekend for the KVCC ladies, who moved to 4-0 on the young season.  The only negative was the aggravation of a foot injury for the Cougar's super shooter from Charlevoix, Betsey Dennis.  "Betsey gave it a shot on Friday and was really having trouble playing at the level she is capable of because of something going on with her foot." Said Welch.  "We'll get it checked out on Monday and hopefully it's nothing that a little rest won't fix.  She's a tough kid and I know that if she can go - she will.  She provides us with another tremendous perimeter weapon so we hope she's not out to long."