| Cassie Warburton runs the length of the court for a lay-up after CEU stripped the ball from a Westminster guard. |
In a 92-39 victory, College of Eastern Utah used their deep bench to defeat a limited Westminster team on Tuesday night at home.
From the opening whistle, the Lady Eagles pressured the Lady Griffins with a full-court, trapping press.
The Lady Griffins took advantage of the spread-out team early, dropping several outside shots and keeping a small lead over CEU.
But the constant onslaught began to wear at Westminster, leading to steals and easy lay-ins for CEU.
“Everyone thinks they’re going to win in the first five minutes,” coach Dave Paur commented. “That’s when the battle of wills begins.”
Eleven CEU players saw the court in the first half, wearing down the eight-player team Westminster fielded.
In the front court, CEU shut down the Lady Griffin offense, denying passing lanes and forcing several shot clock violations with their tight zone defense.
Paur said the team tries to “suck the air out of the gym” with their intense play style.
However, once CEU rose to a 20 point lead before the half, the full-court press was dropped for the remainder of the game.
Cassie Warburton had 13 points, two rebounds and six steals for the night. Chelsey Warburton also had 13 points, two steals and a block.
Kami Blackburn added 11 points and six blocks, Janell Casey had 10 points and five blocks and Cheryl Grant finished with nine points and four blocks.
The team was over 40 percent from the field, going 33 of 81 and shot 72 percent from the free throw line.
CEU will compete in their first region games of the season this Friday and Saturday against Salt Lake Community College.
According to Paur, SLCC was estimated to be the top team in the region before losing a strong post player to Utah State University a few weeks before the start of the season.
However, Paur said the team should still be in the hunt for the top spot in region rankings.
“It’ll be a good test,” Paur concluded.