Photo by Luke Zayas/True To The Cru
BELTON–It may not have been the prettiest of wins on Monday night for the UMHB women’s basketball team, but dominance in the rebounding game and 20-plus point efforts from Arieona Rosborough and Kaitlyn Kollmorgen paved the way to a 99-86 win over Schreiner for the Crusaders in their home opener.
It marks UMHB’s fourth straight win, elevating head coach Katie Novak-Lenoir’s squad to 4-1. Schreiner drops to 1-4 overall.
“Sometimes it’s not pretty, but at the end of the day, we got the job done,” Novak-Lenoir said postgame. “I am proud of the rebounding effort, but we have a lot of work to do right now.”
While putting 99 points on the board, which included a 32-point fourth quarter, was a season-high, UMHB also surrendered a season-high in points, as Schreiner shot 48.1 percent from the field, and converted on 29-of-33 free throw attempts. Much of that was a credit to the Mountaineers’ style of play, which is somewhat unconventional and focuses on high-scoring performances with an aggressive and physical offensive approach.
“I just don’t think we sat on defense and played in the half court well,” Novak-Lenoir added. “It was a flip from our Pacific game where we really dug in and played really good defense, with good rotations, and active hands. [Schreiner] got to the basket when they wanted to. We were late a lot of times, and I just didn’t think the defensive attention to detail was that great.”
Second-chance opportunities were plentiful as UMHB won the battle on the boards
On the flip side, UMHB attacked the glass, especially offensively, which yielded a number of key second-chance scoring opportunities on the Crusaders’ possessions throughout all four quarters.
Time and time again, UMHB scored after an initial miss, starting with the Cru’s first points of the game, when Kollmorgen leapt above a Schreiner defender and pulled down a missed jumper from Ashley Faux. Kollmorgen laid the ball off the glass, tying the score at 2-2, and soon followed with a three-point play, drawing a foul as she converted on a layup.
Then late in the first quarter, Faux missed a long jumper, but rebounded her own miss and found Lauren Baker, who connected on a 3-pointer from the left corner for an 18-10 UMHB lead.
By the time the second quarter rolled around, UMHB had 11 offensive rebounds to Schreiner’s one, and 10 of its 23 first quarter points came after an offensive rebound. That was a trend that continued as the final three quarters unfolded, as The Cru pulled down 31 offensive rebounds and tallied an impressive 34 second-chance points. By comparison, Schreiner had just three offensive rebounds and a mere five second-chance points.
In one key sequence, with 8:34 left in the contest, Kollmorgen missed a jumper, but Jaycie Brisco immediately grabbed the rebound. The ball quickly got back into the hands of Kollmorgen, who scored on a layup and drew a foul simultaneously. The senior converted on the free throw, and UMHB’s lead widened back to 10, 73-63.
Maintaining the lead was the product of several timely scoring runs
It was plays such as that one when the offensive rebounding numbers played a role in deciding the outcome. And beyond that, it proved to be another example of UMHB halting Schreiner’s building momentum at the right times, keeping the Crusaders in control.
“When we needed a play, somebody would step up,” Novak-Lenoir said. “Jaycie shooting the gap and getting a steal at the end. Arieona getting to the rim when she needed to get to the rim and push [the ball] in transition. Kaitlyn was really big on the offensive boards. So was Ashley.”
One of those instances came when Schreiner tied the score at 35 apiece with 3:03 left in the second quarter. With UMHB’s lead in question, Faux connected on a 3-pointer, just before Schreiner scored a layup of its own. Then came a 3-pointer from Ella Hartmann and The Cru grabbed the momentum again.
After Faux wrestled away a rebound on the defensive end, the ball found its way into the hands of Alexis Carmosino, whose 3-point shot swished through the net, giving UMHB a 46-37 lead. In all, The Cru posted a 12-2 run that led to the 47-41 halftime lead.
Then with 2:28 in the third quarter, Nariyah Buggs managed to get a layup to fall, driving between a pair of UMHB defenders on a fast-break. It cut the Crusader advantage to 58-56, to which UMHB responded with a 9-0 run, ending the quarter with an 11-point lead. Rosborough accounted for six of those points and Kollmorgen added the other three as Schreiner never came any closer than an eight-point deficit through the final 10 minutes.
Defensive intensity and energy to be a focus looking forwards
With the ASC opener set for Saturday at Concordia, maintaining a strong defensive identity is a focus for UMHB. High-level defense was present early in the win at Pacific, and that is the type of start on the defensive end that Novak-Lenoir is looking for moving into the beginning of the conference schedule.
“I know we can do it, because we’ve done it before. We’ve got to work on it and practice getting consistent with it. That’s what we’re looking for, first and foremost. I think we wanted our offense to give us the energy and our offense was shaky to start. We missed quick shots. We need to flip that mentality and lead that energy with our defense.”
Key individual performances
Kollmorgen finished with a double-double, converting on 7-of-10 shots for a 21-point, 10-rebound performance. It marked a career-high in points for the Houston native, who was also 7-of-8 at the free throw line. Rosborough led the scoring attack with 22 points and added seven rebounds and three steals. Ashley Faux had a team-best 13 rebounds and six assists, while adding eight points.
“We have a lot of weapons, and a lot of people who need to be ready,” Novak-Lenoir said. “Different people step up all the time, which is nice and shows our depth for sure. We just need to work on being more consistent.”
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