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Show Page 10 The Thunderbird Monday December 3, 1984 ms aloft on 7Westernvictory cagers New Mexico SLJSC shines, in impressive conference opener against 73-6- T-Bi- rd by of the game that Schermerhorn reserved most of his praise for the senior center. John really came through down the stretch he was the money man. zone defense The Thunderbirds also displayed a for the first time this season. Schermerhorn commented have the people to run a successful that the Stewart D. Smith The Southern Utah State College basketball team opened the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference season with a victory over Western New Mexico a Thats big win in conference, Head Thursday. Coach Boh Schermerhorn said immediately after the... contest. The Thunderbirds parlayed an early lead into the victory over an excellent Western New Mexico team. Theyre very definitely a good team. Thats a very talented group of kids, Schermerhorn said of his defeated opponent. The SUSC basketball mentor was pleased with the performance of his squad particularly with the rebounding. The biggest improvement we made was our offensive rebounding. Its a matter of wanting' the ball, he said. According to Schermerhorn, in the three spent a lot days of practice between games the of time practicing their offensive rebounding. Trent Scarlett grabbed 10 boards and Russell Otis and John Pierce pulled down eight each to lead the Thunderbirds in rebounding. We have to have that from them, Schermerhorn said. Offensively, Derrick Johnson led the Thunderbirds in scoring with impressive accuracy from the field. Johnson connected on his first five attempts in the first half and went on to score 21 points in the contest. He is going to be one of our leading scorers, one of our leading rebounders and one of our assist leaders, Schermerhorn said. A lot of people dont realize just how good a player he is, he added. Schermerhorn also complimented Pierce for his part in the victory. The 68 Pierce, in addition to his eight rebounds, scored 19 points. It was for the final minutes 2-- 3 73-6- 7 - We wanted to. play .some zone, .and. we he said. The defense prevented the Mustangs from a strong inside game and forced them to go more to the outside. Thursday the Thunderbirds will be on the road to Phoenix where theyll meet Grand Canyon College. A vengeful SUSC will be looking to even its record with the Antelopes following a loss in overtime two weeks ago. I owe (Grand Canyon) Coach (John) Shumate dinner and Im going to bet him double or nothing, Schermerhorn laughed. The next six games are going to tell us a lot about our team, Schermerhorn said of the upcoming Thunderbird schedule. one-defense. havent all year, Birdwatch VS. WESTERN NEW MEXICO Trent Scarlett makes a move to the basket in Thursdays SUSC victory over the Western New Mexico Mustangs. Scarlett scored 11 points in the contest. 73-6- 7 Thunderbirds remain unbeaten Lady down Western New SUSCs Mexico lady cagers by Wendy Barraclough If the first two games for the Lady are any indication of how the season will go, SUSC fans should expect an exciting and successful one. with victories over Fresno The Birds are now Pacific and their latest one over Western New Mexico University. SUSC defeated the Lady Stangs Im pleased with the way we played in our first game. We are obviously quicker overall than we were last year, and several of our people who were in new positions or were playing with limited experience did well. Our new people also did well, said Lady Thunderbird coach Boyd Adams. SUSC turned out a good performance Friday against Western New Mexico. We didnt play very well in the first haf, but the girls really got together in the second half and played really well. I was really pleased, said Adams. The Lady Birds are basically a young team but Adams said that they will get stronger as the season progresses. It takes time to mold together, said Adams. Adams said that he is really pleased with the teams defense, but their offense still needs work. They run mainly a man to man defense, and then go to zone play. I like running it because it puts the individual responsibility on the team members, you have to learn to play good man to man before you can play good zone defense, Adams said. One thing that really helped us in Fridays game, was us out rebounding them. We really didnt shoot well and the rebounds are what saved us, were lucky the other team didnt shoot well either. Adams is pleased with his young team, They are a 2-- 74-6- Lady Thunderbird Darla Hunt looks for an opening as a Western New Mexico defender attempts to stop her. The Lady T birds remained unbeaten ivith a victory over the conference foe. -- 74-6- 3; show speed, experience strong team and they work well and hard together. Their morale and mental attitudes are really good. shot 35.5 percent for field goals and 52.6 The percent in free throws. Darla Hunt and Rene Ramsey were the leading shooters for the Birds with six feild goals each, followed by Lisa Ballantyne with five. Ramsey leads the team in rebounds with 19, and Annette Turley leads the team in assists with four. Rene Ramsey and Lisa Ballantyne played really well in this last game, but the whole teim did really well too, said Adams of Thursdays conference opener. Probable starters for the season have been listed, said Adams, but the list is subject to change. Guards will probably be Annette Turley and either Denise Muir or Darla Hunt. Ramsey and Ballantyne are forwards, and the center will either be Cherry Roper or Rebecca Wilkins. Rebecca is just a freshman, but she is doing really well, Im quite pleased with her and the whole mam, said Adams. will meet New Mexico Highlands tonight The in War Memorial Fieldhouse at 7:30 p.m. Birdwatch vs. western new MEXICO |