EU Ladies 3-1
The Glendale Community College Gauchos rode into the BDAC last Friday and Saturday and became victims of a scrappy, fired-up Eagles’ team. The word gaucho means “a cowboy of the South American pampas” according to Webster’s Online. In this case, cowgirl would be more accurate, but the lady Gauchos looked like they forgot to strap on their spurs as the lady Eagles lassoed, corralled and broke them in both games … and made it look easy. Friday night the Eagles won 95-69 and after Saturday’s 112-78 win they improved their pre-season record to three and one.
This archived article was written by: Scott Frederick
The Glendale Community College Gauchos rode into the BDAC last Friday and Saturday and became victims of a scrappy, fired-up Eagles’ team. The word gaucho means “a cowboy of the South American pampas” according to Webster’s Online. In this case, cowgirl would be more accurate, but the lady Gauchos looked like they forgot to strap on their spurs as the lady Eagles lassoed, corralled and broke them in both games … and made it look easy. Friday night the Eagles won 95-69 and after Saturday’s 112-78 win they improved their pre-season record to three and one.
Leading the scoring was freshman guard Amber Strong. Strong was sensational going eight for eleven from the floor, four for five from behind the arc and two for three from the line for 22 points. Throw in a couple assists and a couple steals and you have a terrific performance by the young guard.
Not far behind in the scoring department was sophomore forward Kendra Dalebout. Dalebout hit seven out of ten from the floor and poured in five out of five from three-point land for 19 points. Besides dishing a couple of assists Dalebout was also active on the defensive end with a steal and a block.
Kasey Day also got into double digit scoring with 11 points, grabbed seven rebounds and had six (count ’em) steals.
On the night the team had a total of 21 steals. This seems like some kind of record. If it was a record it didn’t stand for long because Sat. night the lady Eagles racked up 25 steals.
Saturday night the Eagles jumped on the Gauchos quickly and effectively, smothering them with their full-court press and never allowing them to get good looks or easy baskets. In fact, the Gauchos had a tough time just getting the ball to their side of the court all night. The Gauchos looked rattled and even made an attempt to put a shot in the Eagles basket after a missed Eagle free-throw attempt. The Eagles dominated inside and out, handing the Gauchos a 112-78 loss.
Returning from last year and starting for the Eagles Saturday night were Brandi King, a 5-foot-10 forward from Cedar City, Erin Richardson a 5-foot-8 guard from Grand Junction, Colo., Dalebout a 6-foot-1 forward from Salt Lake City and Maquette Potts a 5-foot-8 forward from right here in Price. Also starting as a freshman was 5-foot-8 Strong, a guard from Layton.
Veronica Siqueiros led the team in scoring with 21 points. She hit five from the floor, had two threes and went seven for ten from the line. She also had an assist, a block and five steals.
Dalebout also shot her way into double digits getting 19 points, in addition to five rebounds, an assist, two blocks and three steals. 25 steals for the team in this game … did I mention that?
“We are quicker this year,” says Coach Dave Paur of his guards, this is the best group of guards I have had in a while. The team as a whole is deeper than we were last year, and our second team is better than last year’s second team.
Coming off the bench and getting into double digits was Alisa Morley … the oldest player in college basketball. Morley put in four from the floor, she sank three out of four threes, and got two points from the line for 13 points. It takes a lot of commitment and effort to get your game back after years of being a mom Paur said of Morley … my hat is off to her.
The first two games of the season were held in Cedar City, Nov. 2-3 at the Southern Utah University Invitational. The Eagles won their first game 73-70 against Yavapi.
The sophomore starters got it done with Richardson going 7 of 10 from the floor and getting a three. Dalebout went two for five from the floor and was a perfect six for six from the line. Potts added nine points and King finished with eight.
Close behind was Strong with seven, Day with seven, Nicki Callister with five, Rachel Rasmussen and Veronica Siqueiros each with four and Janzyn Johnson with two.
The second game of the tournament the Eagles fell to Arizona Western 89-73. We were up five points at halftime but lost the game, Paur said.
In this game, freshman guard Siqueiros caught fire going four for eleven from the floor and pouring in eight points from the line for 16 points. King wasn’t far behind with 15, and Dalebout added another 14 points by hitting two from the floor and going nine for ten from the line.
Paur’s scouting report of the conference is short and to the point. Snow is about the same, SLCC doesn’t seem quite as good as last year, I haven’t seen NIC yet so I don’t know about them, and CSI has the best team they have ever had with four players over 6-feet-2.
“Our ladies have great attitudes,” Paur says, “I just try to get them to play up to their potential. I am hoping they buy into my system. In high school they had to play more minutes than they do now so they are afraid of burning out before the game is over. With our rotation scheme, they can play full speed every minute of the game. What I want from them is to leave everything they have on the floor. I want them to be smart and ferocious when they are in the game. We are hitting around 70 percent of our potential right now. When we hit 90 percent we will have a good chance at reaching our goal this year.
“Our goal is to enter the region tournament seeded first or second so we can have a first round bye, and come into our first game rested and ready. If we can accomplish that … anything could happen.”
The Eagles go on an extended run of road games starting Nov. 15 in Casper, Wyo., and ending with the Coca-Cola Classic in Twin Falls, Idaho on Dec. 8. The next home game will be in the BDAC, Saturday, Jan. 5, at 3 p.m. against the alumni.
