Lady Cougars lose two on the road
The MVNU women’s basketball team (3-7, 0-3) fell to Grace College (7-5, 2-1) 63-55 and Taylor University (6-4, 3-0) 79-63.
The Lancers edged out the Lady Cougars in a game that featured 11 lead changes. The Cougars entered the fourth quarter trailing by one point (42-41). However, a 21-14 fourth-quarter run gave Grace their second conference win.
MVNU junior Natalie Carpenter scored 19 points and junior Sierra Basista chipped in 11 points. Sophomore Cassidy Cain added eight points and four rebounds for the Lady Cougars.
Head Coach Amanda Short blamed missed shots for the loss. “We need to have confidence and be able to knock down shots,” Short said.
The Lady Cougars shot 35 percent from the field, making only four of 16 three-point attempts.
Short was happy with the way the team played defensively, but acknowledged the Cougars’ offensive struggles.
“I thought we did pretty well on the defensive end, but if we can’t score more, that is not going to do us any good,” Short added.
The Lady Cougars’ third straight conference loss came on Saturday.
After entering the fourth quarter trailing by four (55-51), the Trojans doubled the Cougars’ fourth-quarter points, outscoring them 24-12.
Defensive lapses proved too much for the Cougars to overcome. “Cain played great defense and shut down [Trojans’ Sophomore Kendall] Bradbury, but we allowed other players to hurt us,” Short said.
Taylor junior Cassidy Wyse tallied 26 points for the Trojans.
The loss marked Carpenter’s second-straight game with 19 points. Sophomore Rachel Parks tallied 15 points and Basista added 11.
Senior Megan Beidelman led the Cougars on the glass, pulling down 11 rebounds.
Short was happy with how Carpenter and Parks played offensively, but realized the Cougars have to play consistently in order to win.
The Cougars will host Spring Arbor University (5-5, 0-3) on Tuesday.
Carpenter and the Cougars look to play well all game in order to beat Spring Arbor.
“We have to play consistent basketball for all 40 minutes of the game. As a team, we have the capabilities to win, we just have to play well all four quarters,” Carpenter said.