Lady Cougars bounce back with important win.

February 3, 2007    KVCC (84) vs. Kellogg CC (80) in Cougar Arena

         After the heartbreaking loss to GR on Wednesday, the Lady Cougars bounced back with a special performance against the team that dealt them their first loss - the talented young Lady Bruins from Kellogg.  "This is huge for a lot of reasons." exclaimed a very pleased Coach Welch.  "First of all it keeps us on top in the Western conference with an 8-2 record, but perhaps more importantly we had to prove to ourselves that we could compete with those kids.  We didn't play very well over there and I think the gals were pretty focused and excited about the challenge today.  I can't tell you how proud we are of this team for buying into what we were trying to do and going out and executing the game plan."  The huge win improved the Cougars conference record to a league- leading 8-2 and a sparkling 19-2 over all.
                                                                                               
      Kendra Kutz had a monster game with 23 points and 14 rebounds, but she had a lot of help as the Lady Cougs had two other people with double doubles as Kim Gear (10 points & 13 boards) and Jealyn Foston (10 points & 12 rebounds)provided additional fire power. Charity Knight was really solid with 12 points and 6 assists (with only one turnover) and her back court mate Amber Peters had a 10 point, seven rebound effort placing five of the Cougars in double figures scoring.  "Our starters had a fine game today, but the bench was big also outscoring the Bruin bench 19-18." said an impressed Cougar head coach.  "Whittaker, Karasiewicz, Saunders, Dennis, Millard, Dumond - they all come off the bench and gave us good solid minutes, as did spot performers Buren and Sanders.  It was a really nice team effort." 

                                         
                                                                           Kutz has special day

      After being solidly out rebounded in the first meeting and being dominated inside,  the Cougars were nothing short of spectacular as they amassed 66 rebounds (including 27 offensive) to the visiting Bruins 38 caroms. That and the 44 trips to the charity stripe (converting 33 for a solid 75%) was to much for the visitors to over come.  "To say that I was really pleased with the way we attacked today would be a huge understatement." said a drained Coach Welch after the game.

                                
      League play continues next Wednesday. The Lady Cougars hit the road for their third big game in a row as they travel up to Muskegon to battle the 2nd place Jay Hawks. Game time is 5:30 pm.  "It's still important to take these last four league games one at a time." commented the Cougar coach.  "Everyone in this conference is tough and playing on the road is very dangerous. If we continue to take care of business we're still in control of our own destiny. After hitting a bit of a plateau, I think this win propel us into the post season on an upswing. Time will tell but it's an exciting time to be a Lady Cougar!"

                                                                                                             Pictures courtesy of Jill Welch