Lady Eagles drop two to NIC at home, split with Snow on the road, fifth in SWAC
The Lady Eagles dropped two games at home against Northern Idaho College. Friday night, Feb. 15, they lost 61-70, and Saturday. afternoon they went down 47-66 in the BDAC.
Friday night, CEU dug themselves into a hole and went into the locker room at halftime down 10 points. They outscored the Cardinals by one point in the second half but it was too little too late. “It was a tie game at 60-60 with two minutes left, it was ours to win but we came up short,” said Coach Dave Paur.
This archived article was written by: Scott Frederick
The Lady Eagles dropped two games at home against Northern Idaho College. Friday night, Feb. 15, they lost 61-70, and Saturday. afternoon they went down 47-66 in the BDAC.
Friday night, CEU dug themselves into a hole and went into the locker room at halftime down 10 points. They outscored the Cardinals by one point in the second half but it was too little too late. “It was a tie game at 60-60 with two minutes left, it was ours to win but we came up short,” said Coach Dave Paur.
Kendra Dalebout led all scorers with 17 shooting six out of seven from the field, including going four for four from three-point territory. She also hauled down five rebounds, had two blocks and a steal.
Erin Richardson got into double-digit scoring with 10. She grabbed three rebounds and dished three assists.
Danika Lawson a 5-foot-9 sophomore playing wing, led the Cardinals with 14 points and nine rebounds. Freshman guard Ula Taula got into double-digit scoring going four for 13 including a three for 11 points. The Cardinals have an impressive group of guards, according to Paur, “NIC has several guards that could play Division One right now. They are the quickest team in the league.”
On Saturday, Feb. 16, in the BDAC by a score of 47-66, the Lady Eagles again lost to NIC. CEU looked distracted or uninterested in this contest. Their usual ferociousness on defense was not there. They seemed content to just roll with whatever was going on.
They usually do so much hitting under the basket it sounds like a slap fight, but not this game. “We were flat defensively and emotionally,” Paur said. “We fought hard on Friday and when we came up short it took something out of us on Saturday.”
NIC shut down CEU’s leading scorer, Dalebout, who only took one shot at the basket in the entire game. “NIC did a great job of denying Kendra the ball,” Paur said.
Richardson led CEU in scoring with 12, Brandi King wasn’t far behind with nine, and Maquette Potts got on the board with eight.
Hurting the Eagles was only getting one three-pointer to drop. They were one of 13 from behind the arc for slightly under eight percent.
Feb. 22, the Eagles landed in Ephraim to take on the Snow College Badgers. The Eagles came up short in this one losing 65-73. The Badgers found a way to shut down Dalebout and it worked. Dalebout who averages 17 points a game came away with two points on one-for-nine shooting. “We couldn’t hit,” Paur said. “We implemented new offensive looks a few days before the NIC games and we were not up to speed when we took on Snow.”
Freshmen Kasey Day and Ande Miller got on the board with 12 and 10 points respectively. Sophomores Potts and Richardson also got into double digits with 11 and 10 points, respectively. Potts had nine rebounds.
Leading all scorers was Vanessa Riggs of Snow who went five for nine from the field including three threes and going seven for eight from the line for 20 points. Cori Nielsen also had an impressive game with 14 points and 12 rebounds.
Saturday, Feb. 23, the sun came out in Ephraim and lit up the Eagles who caught fire and tore into Snow ripping them 99-76. The Lady Eagles were smoking hot shooting 58 percent from the field and 44 percent from beyond the arc.
“NIC and Snow had done a great job of denying Kendra the ball” said Paur, “so I told her to drive to the basket to see what would happen.” I also told my team to keep playing hard and the shots would start dropping.” They did, and they did … in a big way.
Dalebout played like someone possessed going 10 for 14 from the field including draining four threes. She also dropped in two out of two from the line for 26 points to lead all scorers.
Richardson was not far behind going eight for nine from the field including going perfect from behind the arc, two for two, and hitting two for two from the charity stripe for 20 points.
Potts got into double-digits going five for nine from the field including a three.
“Our new offensive scheme started to kick in and we got our shots to drop in this one,” Paur explained. “We played hard Friday but our shots didn’t drop. We played just the same on Saturday but our shots started going in.
It was nice to see the ladies make baskets and continue to work hard even though they have taken some licks lately.
This weekend the Eagles are in Salt Lake City to take on the 10-3 Salt Lake City Community College Bruins on Friday and Saturday. The following weekend the ladies will take on Snow in the first round of the Scenic West Tournament in Twin Falls, Idaho.
