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Show . 'BIRD SPORTS-1 Lady hoopsters beat Kailgaroos in first round By CHAD LAMB JOURNAL SPORTS EDITOR The SU women's basketball team picked up a big win Saturday defeating UMKC 77-59 in firstround action of the women's Mid-Con Conference Tournament Saturday. The ladies opened up an early lead over the Lady Kangaroos, pulling ahead 12-2 in the first minutes of the game. UMKC cut the lead to five points, but the Lady 'Birds went on a 14-0 run to lead by 11 at halftime. In the second half, UMKC overcame a 19-point deficit to cut the lead down to two a:t 45-43, but SU built the lead back up and led by 10 after a three-point basket by Sunny Myers, making ft 6555 with three minutes remaining. "We get a lead and w e don't buckle down. We don' t play with any intensity, 11 said Head Coach Joe Hillock. "We stayed in there, I thought this was the first game this year that we were mentally tough for 40 minutes." Myndee Larsen, who came into the tournament feeling sick, finished the first half with 18 points and ended the game with a game-high 33 points. Larsen also had a game-high of 12 rebounds as the ladies held a 45-38 advantage on the boards. "We outrebounded them, and that is where you are going to win the game," Hillock said. SU was also hot from the free throw line. In the first half the ladies hit 8-of-8 from the line, and finished the night shooting 92 percent as a team. "We step up and shoot 92 percent from the free throw line-that's what a tournament team has to throughout the game and stop UMKC from taking a lead. "You have to give Sydne Mortensen some great credit. She's not playing many minutes, but at any time you have to be able to come off the bench and help your team, and she did a wonderful job," Hillock said. "She did a fine job defensively." The ladies shot 43 percent for the game, and held the Kangaroos to 30 percent shooting from the field. Sunny Myers finished the game with 17 points and pulled down eight boards. Mandi Shaheen also scored in double figures with 12 points. UMKC had just two players finish in double figures. Darci Haas scored 11 points and Sara Atalla added 10 for the Kangaroos. The ladies now advance to second-round action and will face Youngstown State today at 11:30 a.m. The game can be heard on KBRE-AM (940). The Lady Penguins are coming off an easy 76-57 win over Chicago State. Youngstown had success from the field in shooting 45 percent, and held Chicago State to 35 percent from the field for the game. SU lost both games against Youngstown this season, which included a 94-84 loss at home and · - _, an 81-71 loss on the road against the Kangaroos. · ~ The Lady Penguins won the regular season Mid5 Con title with a 15-1 league record and an overall ::: record of 24-2. ~ In other women's action, Buffalo defeated Oral ~ Roberts 63-52 and Valparaiso upended Western 8 Illinois 80-64 in first-round action. If SU wins ~ today, they will face the winner of the ValparaisoL-------...;;__________________,!2 Buffalo game in the championship game tomorrow at 4:30 p.m. Sunny Myers scored 17 points in the Lady 'Birds 77-59 win. do; You have to make free throws when they come after you," Hillock said. The ladies had a lot of help from the bench defensively. Instead of folding with the starters out, the 'Birds were able to keep up the same intensity Gymnasts back on track Men lose in two OTs scoring a first place meet score and a personal-season-best of 9.775 on beam and a By LONNIE EVERILL 9.625 mark on the floor exercise. The JOURNAL SPORTS WRITER freshmen also continued their qutstanding performances. Along with Kisselburgh, Coming off just their second loss of the season·at BYU on Thursday, the Lady 'Birds Bethany Orten help the Lady 'Birds tie their season-high mark on beam posting a 9.725. continued their road stretch with a win Heather Slack came on to lead the ladies on over the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos the floor exercise posting a 9.725, then coSaturday night. SU was able to come on lead the Lady 'Birds, along with Kym strong in posting its third-highest team Franklin as they both posted a 9.550 ftrstscore of the season, tumbling past the Gauchos with a score of 191.025 to 184.400. place mark on bars. With Kim Nomura The 'Birds started -sitting out of the allwith a dismal around competition, performance on bars, it was Tamara counting three falls Turley taking the top and posting the spot. While Turley second lowest bars didn't shock the score of the season, a crowd with , 46.875. outstanding marks, "We got of£ to a she was consistent horrendous start on and came away with. bars, with three first place in the allfalls," said Head around with a score Coach Scott Bauman. of 37.850. Even The three falls and though the 'Birds the slow start is what · struggled early, the kept the SU gym !..;..: . ......:=;..... Lady Gauchos struggled even more barely squad from having one of its best meets of hitting a 9.0 on several events. the year, as the Lady 'Birds still continued Although the ladies had a slow start SU to improve from previous meets. head gymnastics coach Scott Bauman said Senior Dawn Kisselburgh lifted the 'Birds be was pleased with the outcome. past the Gauchos with great performances "We got off to a horrendous start on bars, on all three of the events she competed in, with three falls," Bauman said. "We came and had perhaps her pest night of the back and got better and better as the meet season. On vault Kisselburgh posted a new season best of 9.825, also the fourth-highest progressed. We had a decent vault score, and looked as good on beam, as a team, as mark in school history. She then continued we've looked all year." on to post high scores the rest of the night, i..:; ·:;·;..;: The SU men's basketball team lost a heartbreaker in its first-ever Mid-Con tournament game, losing 94-84 to Oral Roberts yesterday in double overtime. The 'Birds led through most of the game, leading by ei.ght twice in the game. SU led with 74-73 with 1:30 left, but fouled and Oral Roberts tied the game with 1:11 remaining. With the game tied at 74-74, SU made a big defensive stand to force Oral Roberts into a 35-second shot-clock violation, turning the ball back over to the 'Birds. With 24 seconds left, Tarvish Felton drove the lane and was called for an apparent traveling. Oral Roberts missed its last .s hot forcing overtime. In the first overtime period, ORU was up by two with 17 seconds remaining, but Tyrone Ellis drove the lane to tie the score and force a second overtime. The second overtin1e was all the Eagles would need, as they outscored the 'Birds 14-4 for the win to advance to the second round. Early on, the 'Birds showed their desire to win this game, jumping out to an early 10-2 lead. However, Oral Roberts went on a 14-4 run and led 16-14 over SU with 14 minutes left in the first half. The 'Birds refused to fold, as they stepped up to the challenge of Oral Roberts to maintain a fivepoint lead through most of the first half. SU took a big leadtwith seven minutes remaining, including a 34-27 advantage after a Kenyatta Clyde dunk. Oral Roberts came back toward the end of the half to take the lead at 40-39 due to superb shooting from behind the three-point line. They went 7-for-7 from threepoint land and shot 72 percent overall from the field in the first half. In the second half, the 'Birds once again jumped o·ut to an early lead over the Eagles, and led 65-60 with nine minutes remaining. After Oral Roberts took its first lead of the second half at 68-67, Felton tied the game for the ninth time at 69-69 after two fre·e throws. SU had a four-point lead at 73-69 with 2:30 remaining, but a free throw and a deep three-pointer by Tim Gill pulled the Eagles within one, and they eventually tied the game to go into overtime. Felton led the 'Birds in scoring with 20 points, and Kenyatta Clyde added 18. Jason Essex and John Williams, both seniors, played in their last game as Thunderbirds. Essex finished in double figures with 17 points, but fouled out in the first overtime which was a big blow to the SU scoring threat. Free throws were a big part of the game, as Oral Roberts went to the line 28 times in the second half alone. |