Kalamazoo Valley Women's Basketball

February 8, 2008    KVCC (80) at Grand Rapids (68) at Ford Fieldhouse in Grand Rapids, MI
 

Coach's comments: 
     When Kalamazoo Valley hosted the Grand Rapids team in early January they were a team in transition and absorbed an excruciating 66-61 loss by spotting them a 10 point lead after the first half.  Friday night in Ford fieldhouse a rapidly improving and confident group of Cougars got a measure of retribution pulling away late from the home-standing Raiders with solid defense, very good rebounding and some great late game free throw shooting.
      While the Cougars young freshman post tandem of Jeannie Closson and Caitlyn Krull were dominating the war on the boards with 14 and 15 boards respectively, sophomore guards Shannon Dumond(19) and Jessica Sanders(15) also contributed mightily to the offensive production.  Closson and Krull both ended with double doubles adding 18 and 17 points for the night.  "Those two youngsters pretty much dominated the inside for us" said Welch.  "And I thought we did a better job of challenging shot on the perimeter than we did the first time we played them.  They still scored 27 points from the arc, but it took them more shots to make it happen."  The Raiders were 9/33 from three for the night.
      "Another key was being aggressive offensively." explained a pleased Cougar coach.  "We scored 25 points from the free throw line.  When we do that you're going to have to have a pretty good night to beat us."

                                              
                                                              "S-Blondie" on the attack in an earlier game

      "I was particularly pleased with the over-all play of Jessica Sanders tonight." praised Welch.  " She gave us a tremendous spark off the bench.  She could have moped around and been annoyed that we took her out of the starting line up, but instead ratcheted her game up to the next level.  I thought she was one of the difference makers for our team tonight."  Sanders, in addition to the 15 points, had 5 rebounds, was 4/5 from the floor (including 2/2 from beyond the arc) had 2 assists, 2 steals, 2 blocks and was 2/2 from the free throw line.  "We need that kind of production consistently from her.  She's very capable."
      The other sophomore was pretty good on this night, too.  "I can't say enough about how steady Shannon Dumond has been in her approach this whole year."  continued Coach Welch.  "We have come to expect good things and she seldom, if ever, disappoints.  I felt like she got back to being her tonight.  She had been 'settling' a little bit and tonight I thought she was very aggressive.  That's when she's at her best."  Dumond added 6 assists, 2 steals and 5 rebounds to her 19 point offensive showing.
     "We also have to mention Ericka King." said Welch.  "She's one of our better on ball defenders and has been doing a nice job of taking care of the ball for us - and she's been rebounding really well.  She had 7 big rebounds for us tonight and only turned it over twice.  I'll take that!"
      Both the men's and women's teams travel to Plymouth, Indiana and Ancilla College in a make up of the snowed out games from Wednesday. Game time is 1:00 pm as the Cougars take one of the league's surprise teams.  The Chargers also were on the road Friday night and dropped a game to Lake Michigan College.

     The balance of the schedule can be found on the schedule page of the KVCC women's basketball site.  Click on the link below for more info.



Schedule Page