| Erin Richardson and Maquette Potts fight against two Snow players for a rebound. |
“Shooter!” the Lady Badgers yelled every time the College of Eastern Utah’s 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.
But that didn’t stop the Lady Eagles. They went on to defeat scrappy Snow 55-45.
“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,” agreed 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 Morley drained a huge three pointer to give the Eagles an emotional lift. Morley hit two of two threes in the game just when CEU needed them most.
“I was so happy those shots went in,” Morley 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 Morley seven.
Leading scorers for Snow were Cori Nielson with 14 points, Chelsey Brown 12 and Lindsie Wilson 10.