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Show SPORTS Rebels win two straight home 6 -- fS :oiitir BY JARED BURTON Dixie Sun Sports Editor into the game on the tail e end of a losing streak with loses to Metro State and Colorado Christian. However, with those two losses in the rearview mirror, the Rebels were in prime position to take on Westminster, who entered the game with a record. The Rebels came out shooting in the first half and burst out to a good shooting first half, going nearly 56 percent from the field while holding Westminster to just 26 pertwo-gam- A- - 7--1 j V - - i Kasey Winters, a senior business major from Mesquite, Springs. University of Colorado-Colorad- o back up to nine. The teams went back and forth, exchanging baskets and foul shots for the next two minutes until a Westminster three cut the lead to four with five minutes left in the game. The Griffins kept fighting and clawing at the DSC lead and with three minutes left, the score was tied on an inside lay up; just like that the Rebels gave up a halftime lead. However, as the game went down to the wire, a very costly turnover by Westminster gave the Rebels the ball back with four seconds left. After Stock was fouled and Nev., drives the lane for two of his 25 points drilled two free throws, DSC led by three. Westminster had the ball with two seconds and missed a three to tie the game. The Rebels left the Burns Arena on Friday win over with a three-poin- t visiting Westminster. Assistant coach Jake Shroeder said the team met a goal that night. We have improved a lot, and that was our goal: to improve every day, he said. We had a tough road trip last week with the two loss- On Saturday the Rebels hosted the visiting University of Colorado-ColoradSprings. The o The Dixie State College womens basketball team is off running with a record, but with a tough 3-- 1 schedule left the Rebels are poised to make some noise. DSC is averaging 46.8 points per game, .327 field goal percentage, 34 rebounds a game, and .560 from the free throw line. The Rebels are 4 in turnovers and 5.5 in rebounds against all opponents According www in the four games, DSC leads all Pacific West Conference teams in scoring defense, offensive rebounds, assists and block shots Were going win a lot games with this style of play, head coach Angela Kristensen said. We definitely have an edge with how to play in transition. Junior forward Jessica Carver leads the conference in blocks and rebounds, averaging two blocks and 10 rebounds a rontm Schroeder said. We had decent lead then we let a wt gr' iiiipr0' Schffl1 game, and is second in scoring with 18 points per game. Carver was selected the PacWest Womens Basketball Player of the Week after guiding the Rebels to a pair of wins over William Penn and College of St. Mary by averaging 19 points and 13 rebounds per contest Kristensen said Carver was snubbed from being pre-seaso- n Shes athletic and carried a lot of the load for us, Kristensen said. kid when Shes our conference starts." Freshman forward Brandi Barrett and junior guard Denny Phommabout are in the top 10 in scoring, averaging 10.3 per game. Freshman guard Jessica Jones has nine steals for the season, .averaging 7.8 points per game and had a season high of 16 points against St. Marys. Sophomore forward Maya Gross doesnt fill up the box score but exudes hustle go-t- o on both ends of the court, causing turnovers and running the court in tran rebounds and steals and fourth in assists. Riding on a winning streak, the Lady Rebels will have five games before they start a Pacific West Conference run in e January in Hawaii 4-- 1 11-- 7 ) (6-- (7-1- ) (6-2- (4-2- BY LAYNE ROBERTS Dixie Sun Staff Writer Though the football team won only one game two years ago and three games this past season, there is plenty to look forward to at Hansen Stadium. After the improvement from their first year in Division II competition, the Rebels will begin play in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference next season. That means the Rebels will play their four fellow conference members twice each season, both at home and two-gam- e against Hilo. The Rebels took on Westminster Tuesday, but scores were unavailable at press time. Westminster recorded early losses to BYU and the University of Idaho but played very well against both teams. The Rebels travel to California to face Concordia University Friday and the University of South Dakota Saturday before returning to the Burns Arena to face Northwest Nazarene University ) and Seattle Pacific ) before the holidays. Kristensen said this stretch of games is going to be a test before conference play. And we need to finish strong, she said. (9-2- away. The Rebels started the season with a loss on the road to a very talented Mesa State team, who the Rebels also lost to at home later in the season. The Rebels then matched and surpassed their von total from the previous k season when they won games against Adams State and West New Mexico University, and gave themselves a record. From there everything went south as the Rebels lost seven of their final eight games. Two of those games, at Humboldt State and versus Azusa Pacific, would have been won if it were not for multiple mistakes that came at critical points in the game. For the most part, Dixie State College remained competitive until a handful of consecutive plays put a victory out of reach, something that became a theme for the season. When we made a mistake back-to-bac- 2-- 1 it was not just a turnover, it was points for the team... that is a huge factor, offensive coordinator Ed Larson said. The offense, admittedly, is the phase of the game that needs the most improvement this Progress was made but not enough, and that is obvi- ous from the offensive point, Larson said. This year the football team talked all season about getting into the house where the party J Saturdays Mountain Lions entered the record, game with a defeat including a one-poiof Southern Utah University the night before. The Rebels jumped out to lead with the an early help of six points from junior forward Ryan Sanchez. After that the Rebels just kept rolling over the Mountain Lions with the help of great defensive stops and takeaways, pushing the lead to 15. However, the Lions came roaring back and with just under five minutes left in the first half, senior guard Nick Fuller hit a tough shot in the lane to give UCCS the lead. With a minute and sition. She is third in two-gam- in 107-8- 4 win against the a half left, freshman guard Landon Clegg answered right back with a huge three pointer to give DSC a lead. The Rebels played tough in the last minute to take a lead going into the locker room. Both teams shot 50 percent from the field, but the Rebels took much better care of the ball, turning it over just twice but forcing eight by UCCS. Winters led all scorers with 14 points. Schroeder said the team drew confidence from the previous nights win to take back control of the game. We were in the same situation last night," 40-3- 8 42-4- 0 With the game well out of hand UCCS sent in the second string and conceded. DSC hit the century mark with a minute left in the game for the first time this year. DSCs leading scorer in the blowout was Sanchez with 32 points and four rebounds. This was a team win with Winters scoring and grabbing 15 boards. Stock scored nine points and three steals in the win and said the offense is 25 flowing well. At times it flows really well, Stock said. When get going on our runs our offense goes really well" The Rebels showed that with a final score of 107-They will head on the ros: to take on Westminster i a rematch of this weekends battle on Saturday. Rebels look forward to 2008 for breakout football season Womens basketball plans to stay sharp in upcoming games BY GEORGE MANU Dixie Sun Staff Writer ior foul. cent. 1 tfext Both teams moved the ball very well in the second half, and DSC blew up as far as handling the ball is concerned, as they had io turnovers in the first 10 minutes. Winters and Sanchez continued to carry DSC, and the Rebels built a nine point lead with nine minutes left in regulation. The Rebels pounded the ball inside and found themselves with a comfortable lead with just less than four minutes left in the game. From there it started to get choppy as UCCS coach Russ Caton was called for a technical win. Dixie State College came In the second half the Rebels came out with the same mentality of attack the basket. However, Westminster was able to pull within five with just over 1 minutes left on a freshman guard Michael Stockton shot and foul. Senior center Kasey Winters hit a spot up three with 10 left to push the lead i uresK well. 64-6- 1 times. m-- ter them come back, and we cohesi The had a dog fight on our hands. So we said, Hey, die ,eve we learn from last night? novfW And the guys responded dor1 The Rebels took two in a row in their first real home stand of the year. The Rebels took on the Griffins from Westminster College Friday and battled their way to a tough Senior guard Dan Stock hit a big three with two minutes left in the first half to push the Rebel lead to 14 points just before the intermission. Going into the break the Rebels were led by senior forward Troy Randall, who had eight points, two steals and a block. Randall did not act alone as Stock threw in seven but also turned the ball over five i zone, DIXIE SUN is and used the analo gy to measure their progress. Last year we were left out in the street... we were not invited to the party, Larson said. This year we moved to the porch, but the door was slammed on our face. However, there is plenty of reason to be optimistic for next year. First, many close to the team are extremely excited to see Dexter Hill, who this year, start at quarterback next season Hill, who once won three of four games for Northern Iowa, is credited with above average arm strength and being very accurate, which fits perfectly into the pocketpassing system the Rebels run. There are things you cannot be taught, or struggle to learn, if you are a rollout quarterback..., Larson said. (Hill) has been in a sophisticated pocket passing system his whole career. Because so many of the players who received playing time this year were freshmen or sophomores, the Rebels suffered many simultaneous mental mistakes. Because of this the Rebels should see fewer mental mistakes and will look to recruit for depth as well as competition on the offensive side of the ball. Everything we want to do here is to create competition, Larson said. We are only going to get better... when we have good depth, all recruiting is based on getting better as a d team. The Rebels were loaded with talented offensiye Jine-- f men on the scout team add'-- , will likely look for niore .A depth there next season The Rebels were also j forced to play very young ; wide receivers this year, and because the receivers have a good deal of responsibilities, they struggled at times. They made some very good catches, getting off of bump coverage, they have to read coverages, their routes will change, Larson said. read-and-rea- The jlaJihr t need pane aA pore! their c iPpro Also y next the on being situati Itrr tough, nllge retun abres the op becan lough The for at v pled ence goto have I Ou, attituc Haun some red-s- toll re year. The will be a only Bei great, ersar it. the playe 'know ty t to cham playol The great t case home will he Wash With Doug Fiefia leaving for an LDS mission, the Rebels are left with backs Adam Wells and Dallas Irvr as the only backs who playe a significant number of snaps. As with the passing game, the running attack was inconsistent but showed promise throughout the yea: Because of this the Rebels ' r will likely look to focus their efforts on the receiver and running back positions whei time comes for recruiting. Although the defense played very strongly most of the season, there will be some tweaking come next season. The strength of that defense, the front seven, wont change much. Although the defensive line will lose standout Levi Manutai, who is a senior, coaches are high on a for-mer DSC player from the schools junior college days who will be returning: Quinn Ah You. The Rebels usually rotate six linemen but seem to be confident in their deptl at the position. The linebacking unit will lose seniors KeAndre Mags' and Gene Fakatoumafi but will likely look in house for their replacements. Andy this Hicks, who season, and Brad Yost, a senior who was injured this year figure to be key components for the position next year. An area that suffered a myriad of injuries this season, the defensive backfield is a different story. The Rebels will lose both former senior starting safeties, Jayson Malufua and Cole Hall, and may move cornerbacks' on the roster to fill tl void. Either way this position figures to get most of the attention defensively when recruiting comes around. Our secondary improved. but weve still got a way to m . ' J r . I j x red-shirte-d defensive coordinator Ken Schmidt said. Weve got to clamp down on receivers, but against the rtf they really did a good job. They played really good : : j , j j rI go..., see t FOOTBALL page1- "- |