| Veva Whitear drives on a North Idaho defender in an earlier season face off between the two teams, which CEU won. Friday and Saturday’s games at North Idaho again went in favor of the Lady Eagles. |
After College of Eastern Utah took Friday’s game at North Idaho College, NIC head coach Greg Crimp devised a new game plan for Saturday’s matchup.
Crimp needed to contain the scoring of Cassie and Chelsey Warburton, who had scored 20 and 18 points respectively in Friday’s game and led the Lady Eagles to a 64-59 win.
To counter the Warburtons, the Lady Cardinals played an unusual, half-man, half-zone defense.
Two defenders closely guarded the Warburtons while the remaining players dropped into a three person zone.
The plan worked; the Lady Cardinals were able to reduce the Warburton duo’s combined point total to 13.
However, what Crimp could not plan for was the resilency of the Lady Eagles and the depth of their skilled bench.
Sophomore Cheyrl Grant of Orangeville headed the team effort with 15 points, eight rebounds and two blocks.
“[NIC] played very physical. That was a tough game,” head coach Dave Paur stated. “Grant really stepped up and had what was probably her best game of the year.”
Lindsey Arnoldus added nine for CEU, including 7-9 shooting from the free throw line.
Sandra Sorenson posted eight points and nine rebounds and Janell Casey scored seven points, brought down five rebounds and had three steals.
As a team, the Lady Eagles shot 79 percent from the line, going 26 for 33.
CEU took away a 63-56 victory.
With the pair of wins, the Lady Eagles improve to 14-4 in Scenic West Athletic Conference standings and maintain second place in the region.
NIC drops to 4-14.
CEU will host Colorado Northwestern Community College on Feb. 6 and 7.
CNCC is currently in last place in the conference.
The Eagles will then face number one ranked College of Southern Idaho away and then host number three Salt Lake Community College to end the regular season.
CSI and SLCC will also face off on Feb. 20 and 21.
SLCC is the only team, aside from CEU, with a win over Southern Idaho.
According to Paur, these final games will determine standings for all three teams.
Paur said he expects a good performance out of his team against Southern Idaho.
“It’s a tough place to play, but we’ve always played well up there,” he commented.