Photo by Luke Zayas/True To The Cru/LukeZayasMedia
SPOKANE, Wash. — For the second time this season, the UMHB women’s basketball team was tasked with finding a way to win after a difficult loss.
Thursday’s 64-50 defeat against Whitman was particularly tough, considering the fact that outside of a 21-3 run from the Blues in the second quarter, UMHB actually outscored their opposition, 47-43.
But with little time to dwell on the result, the Crusaders shifted their focus forward, winning just over 24 hours later in a 64-49 victory over Whitworth to close their time in the Pacific Northwest.
“This was a great bounce back game after [facing] a physical and challenging Whitman team the night before,” UMHB head coach Katie Novak-Lenoir said postgame.
It was reminiscient of the 76-43 win over Nebraska Wesleyan on Nov. 30, which came just a day after an 81-53 loss to Colorado College. Just as they did against NWU, the Crusaders opened the contest by grabbing an early lead and putting up a 20-point first quarter, outscoring Whitworth, 23-13, over the first 10 minutes.
But unlike in that prior victory over NWU, UMHB found itself trailing on the scoreboard in the second half Friday night. The first half played out very much in The Cru’s favor, and the 40-23 halftime lead was evidence of that. UMHB shot 16-of-38 from the field over the first two quarters, and seemed well-connected on the defensive end at the same time.
The Pirates changed that in the minutes coming out of halftime, however, providing yet another challenge for The Cru, who sought their seventh win of the season. After Adyson James extended UMHB’s lead to 18 with 9:27 left in the third, the Crusaders went scoreless until the 4:27 mark, when Jaycie Brisco came through with a layup. In that span of time, Whitworth scored 15 unanswered points, hit a trio of 3-pointers, and trailed by just three, 41-38.
The Cru couldn’t hold Whitworth back. Mya Bair’s 3-pointer about a minute after Brisco’s drought-breaking layup knotted the score at 43 apiece, and Bri Talley put the Pirates in front for the first time on a go-ahead free throw at the 2:27 mark.
Then came UMHB’s response. And it was a statement response from a squad dead-set on returning to Belton with a win. James and Karlee Cronk came through with back-to-back layups, then Rachel Okoye added yet another layup with 47 seconds left.
UMHB led by five entering the fourth quarter, and the Crusaders didn’t let up. In fact, they only pulled further and further away from Whitworth, eventually getting the margin as wide as 17 with 2:36 to go. All in all, it was a 12-0 fourth quarter run, with the offensive production certainly noteworthy alongside a stellar defensive stretch. Whitworth didn’t score for the first 7 minutes, 53 seconds of the fourth, and struggled possession after possession once UMHB went back to its 1-3-1 zone.
“Our team never gave up, hustled all the way through, and found a way to win,” Novak-Lenoir said. “We got back to more consistent defense and back on the boards, which was good to see.”
Whitworth shot just 29 percent from the field, the Pirates’ second-lowest shooting percentage in a game this season. And UMHB held an opponent below 50 points for the sixth time this season, as opponents are averaging just 54.2 points per game against The Cru. It’s been a defensive clinic for much of this season from Novak-Lenoir’s team, and that was on full display Friday.
But in addition to the defensive prowess, the Crusaders found steadier offensive production, too. They shot 37.1%, their third-best shooting percentage in a game this season, and reached the 70-point mark for the second time. Cronk certainly played a role in that, stepping up on the offensive end with a career-high 16 points. After the freshman forward shot just 2-of-9 from the field at Whitman, she made up for it by going a perfect 6-for-6 against Whitworth, adding six rebounds, with five coming on the offensive end.
UMHB will continue looking for consistent offense as the season progresses, especially with a massive Top 10 test staring The Cru straight ahead. No. 2 Wartburg, 8-0 on the season, comes to Belton next Tuesday, giving UMHB another chance to knock off a nationally-ranked opponent. But against a Wartburg squad allowing just 51.3 points per game, finding success offensively will be critical if The Cru is to pull off its biggest win of the season to date.
“I would like to see us put four quarters together of a good offensive flow,” Novak-Lenoir added. “So we are going to get back to work when we get home.”
Tuesday’s matchup against the nationally-ranked Knights tips off a 2 p.m. CT at the Mayborn Campus Center. Admission is free to the public.
| Box Score | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | Final |
| UMHB | 23 | 17 | 9 | 15 | 64 |
| Whitworth | 13 | 10 | 21 | 5 | 49 |
