Little and Eagles come up big
The Lady Eagles stunned the College of Southern Idaho in their first meeting in the BDAC and then spanked Northwestern Colorado Community College two nights in a row. Are they ready for nationally ranked number-22 Salt Lake City Community College this weekend?
Jan. 26 was a big night for Stacie Little and the rest of the women’s basketball team. It was big for the team because they handed number 15 in the nation, College of Southern Idaho their biggest loss of the season 70-50 in the BDAC.
This archived article was written by: Scott Frederick
The Lady Eagles stunned the College of Southern Idaho in their first meeting in the BDAC and then spanked Northwestern Colorado Community College two nights in a row. Are they ready for nationally ranked number-22 Salt Lake City Community College this weekend?
Jan. 26 was a big night for Stacie Little and the rest of the women’s basketball team. It was big for the team because they handed number 15 in the nation, College of Southern Idaho their biggest loss of the season 70-50 in the BDAC.
And it was a big night for Little because she broke the school record for blocked shots in a single game with 13. The old record of 10 was set by assistant Coach Dan Allen’s daughter Lindsay in the 95-96 season.
Little, a 6-feet-3 inch sophomore from Cottonwood High School in Salt Lake City has been chalking up a lot of blocks this season and her record-setting effort came at the right time against the right team.
In addition to getting 13 blocks, she pulled in seven rebounds and scored three points.
CEU looked relaxed and played seemingly with no expectation of winning. They just played hard and won big.
According to Ashley Taylor, the CEU team that played this night was the real CEU team. “It was the best feeling ever,” said Little of the win. It felt really good to win echoed Elisha Harris.
Harris had a lot to feel good about. She was six of 10 from the field, one for one from three-point land, five of six from the line for 20 points. She also dished three assists, pulled down four rebounds and grabbed a steal.
Halee Rasmussen also had a game to write home about. She had three field goals, went three of five from beyond the arc for 15 points, came up with three rebounds, an assist and a steal.
With CEU playing hard-nosed defense, they forced CSI out of their rhythm early and never allowed them to get it back.
Add in solid play from Haley Rogers with nine points and six rebounds, Mallory Holm with nine points, and Brandi King’s seven rebounds, you get a huge win.
Jan. 27 in the BDAC against CSI, the game was there for the taking by the Eagles … but they weren’t biting and fell to CSI 53-66.
Coach Dave Paur felt it was under confidence, like somehow his team felt they didn’t deserve to beat CSI two nights in a row. He thought his team tensed up, causing them to miss key shots that would have won the game.
Little said they were a bit shocked by the win the night before, got nervous and basically gave the game away.
The Eagles stayed close and with 8:37 left in the game, they were only down by six. But down the stretch, CSI’s big Eva Ivanova got hot from outside and rained down jumpers with CEU unable to get a hand in her face.
For CEU Taylor also got hot from outside and hit two big three-pointers that gave the Eagles a much needed lift. Kendra Dalebout also hit a couple threes and had 10 points in the game
But it was CSI that came up with a way to shut down CEU’s guards limiting Harris to 10 points and Rasmussen to six.
Feb. 2 the Eagles traveled to Northwestern Colorado Community College, a team dangerous on their own floor, according to Paur.
For this game Paur dropped a couple of set plays and added a new one. It worked, CEU got the win 72-63.
Colorado played well Paur said, they stopped our fast break and gave it everything they had but couldn’t hit their shots.
Scoring in double digits for CEU was Dalebout with 12 and Holm with 10.
The top rebounder in the game was Little with nine.
Little also slapped down four shots and continues to impress defensively.
Feb. 3 the Eagles played their second game in a row against NWCC and the result was the same with CEU picking up the win 60-52.
Scoring in double digits was Harris with 16. Little and Holm each had 10 rebounds and Little added six blocks to give the Eagles the win.
Coming up this Friday and Saturday in the BDAC at 5:30 p.m., the Eagles face conference leading SLCC Bruins. The Bruins are playing very well, recently beating North Idaho and Snow on their home floors.
Paur feels his team matches up well against the Bruins, saying if we can play defense aggressively, stop them in transition and limit their points in the paint, we can beat them.
Jenny Fiso has resumed practicing and may be ready to play this weekend. Her elbow is still a bit stiff and she is not 100 percent according to Paur, but she may get some minutes.
The Eagles have proved they can beat anyone when they whipped CSI. The question is, have they proved it to themselves?
