Bench steps up big defeating Snow 55-45, stumbles into CSI 95-62
Twin Falls, Idaho – “Shooter!” the Lady Badgers yelled every time Kendra Dalebout got a touch on the ball as Snow’s defense doubled her, denying CEU’s leading scorer good looks at the basket.
It worked … the Badgers got into Dalebout’s head, forced her to hurry her shot, or not take a shot at all causing her to go zero for 11 from the field.
“Snow did a great job of getting Kendra out of sync offensively,” Coach Dave Paur said.
This archived article was written by: Scott Frederick
Twin Falls, Idaho – “Shooter!” the Lady Badgers yelled every time Kendra Dalebout got a touch on the ball as Snow’s defense doubled her, denying CEU’s leading scorer good looks at the basket.
It worked … the Badgers got into Dalebout’s head, forced her to hurry her shot, or not take a shot at all causing her to go zero for 11 from the field.
“Snow did a great job of getting Kendra out of sync offensively,” Coach Dave Paur said.
“I felt a lot of pressure in this game,” agrees Dalebout. “The thought that this could have been my last game in a CEU uniform, knowing there were Division-One scouts in the crowd, and the real pressure from Snow’s defense caused me to tense up and not follow through on my shots.”
Even though she was out of her shooting rhythm Dalebout was a defensive force on the floor and came away with three points from the line, four rebounds, one block, four steals and an assist.
The first half was a defensive struggle with neither team able to get into a scoring rhythm. CEU did not use their full court press which allowed Snow to take a 21-16 lead into the locker room at halftime.
Remarkable in the first half is that no shooting fouls were called. “I have never seen or coached a game where there were no fouls called in an entire half,” Paur said.
Snow was up by 12 points with 17:44 left in the game and kept a six point lead until about six minutes into the second half when Alisa Morely drained a huge three pointer to give the Eagles an emotional lift.
Morely hit two of two threes in the game just when CEU needed them most. “I was so happy those shots went in,” Morely said.
With 13:43 left on the clock the Eagles were down by three and called a time out. A couple of possessions later the Eagles were within two as Brandi King hit from underneath the basket.
Then with 11:38 on the clock Dalebout picked up a foul and hit both her free throws which tied the game at 31-31.
With the momentum of the game starting to shift in CEU’s favor Paur signaled his team to press. Snow came away empty on their next possession and CEU stormed down the court where sophomore Erin Richardson drained a two pointer giving CEU the lead at 33-31. Snow came right back and tied the game at 33-33. Again CEU came right back and again Richardson hit a field goal giving CEU a two point lead.
A few plays later it was Snow up by two 38-36. On CEU’s next possession freshman Kasey Day drove the baseline and dropped in a lay-up to tie the game again at 38-38.
CEU’s press was having an effect on Snow causing them to use most of the time on the shot clock just to get the ball onto their side of the court and into scoring position.
“I think the strategy to press late was a good one by the coaching staff,” said Dalebout, “it rattled them.”
With 7:19 on the clock CEU regained the lead 38-40 on two free throws by freshman Rachel Rasmussen. From there CEU would remain in the lead and go on to win the game 55-45.
“The difference in this game was our bench,” said Paur, “they did a great job and gave us a big boost when we needed it most. Adrianne Cordova may have had her best game of the year and Alisa gave us a much needed lift tonight.”
Indeed CEU’s bench dominated Snow’s bench scoring 25 points to Snow’s one.
Leading scorers for CEU were Richardson with 10 points, Maquette Potts nine, Brandi King eight and Morely seven.
Leading scorers for Snow were Cori Nielson with 14 points, Chelsey Brown 12 and Lindsie Wilson 10.
CSI
Friday March 7, the CEU women met up with number-one seed and seventh in the nation, College of Southern Idaho in semi-final action. On their home floor in front of a large friendly audience, CSI easily won 95-62.
Five minutes into the game the score was tied at 12. Dalebout got her first bucket nine minutes into the game, and then King drained a huge shot to tie the game at 20.
At the 13 minute mark CEU missed a three pointer and then let CSI get an easy lay up making the score CSI 30 CEU 22. 14 minutes into the game point guard Richardson got injured and had to leave the game with a torn ACL in her right knee. From this point on the post players of CSI dominated the paint and the glass. “Our chance for an upset diminished significantly when Erin got injured” said Coach Dan Allen after the game.
CSI’s big girls pulled down 16 more rebounds, (56-40) than CEU and scored 42 points in the paint to CEU’s 22. “CSI’s post players are exceptional” Coach Paur said. CSI post player Maddy Plunkett was named MVP of the SWAC and All American. Fellow teammates Soana Lucet and Someone were also named to the First Team All Region and picked up All American honors as well.
With one second left in the first half CEU fouled CSI in a last second long shot at the buzzer. The CSI player hit all three free throws making the score at halftime 31-50 CSI.
Without Richardson in the second half and with reserve point guard Ande Miller injured “we didn’t have the ability to slow the game down using ball control” according to Paur. “When Erin went out CSI took advantage of our inexperience at the point guard position and brought in their full-court press. I felt the game would have been closer if Erin hadn’t been injured.”
All American Lucent took over the second half scoring over and over from short range. She ended up with 25 points and 19 rebounds to lead all scorers. Also getting into double-digit scoring for CSI was Anita Burdick with 18, Plunkett with 15 and La Pringle-Buchanan with 12.
In her last game in a CEU uniform Dalebout got on track and scored 19, hauled in four rebounds, got an assist, two blocks and a steal. Dalebout was named to the First Team All Region and was CEU’s leading scorer in this game and lead the team in scoring for the season.
Richardson was two for two from the field and added one from the line for five points before being injured and leaving the game. Richardson was named to the Second Team All Region.
CSI went on to defeat Northern Idaho College in the championship game and qualified for the national tournament in Salina, Kansas March 18-22.
