WINFIELD, Kan. – The Southwestern College women's basketball team, following their six-day Thanksgiving hiatus, returned to the floor on Monday evening for a Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC) battle against the No. 10-ranked Warriors of Sterling College. They put together a solid first half of basketball, after which they held a 34-33 advantage at the intermission, but the Builders could not keep their level of play at that lofty height in the second half. They ultimately fell by a final score of 83-58.

In quarter number one, Sterling was able to take advantage of multiple Southwestern mistakes, forcing seven SC giveaways. The two sides shot at similar clips, as the Moundbuilders finished five of their 14 shots while sinking a pair of threes on nine tries. Conversely, the Warriors were just 6-of-16 from the field and made only a single three on four attempts. But, due to the turnovers by the Builders, Sterling would escape the opening frame with a 17-12 lead.

When looking back at this game, Southwestern will want to replicate their second-quarter performance, as they hit on 6-of-14 from the floor with all six of those makes coming from downtown. They were 6-of-7 from long range in the quarter, adding four made free throws to put up a total of 22 points in the stanza. They held Sterling to an 8-of-18 showing in the same period, while keeping them to just 16 points overall. The result was the accumulation of a 34-33 lead over the No. 10-ranked squad in the country at halftime.

Sterling found a groove, however, in the second half. They sunk 12-of-19 in the third quarter, while nearly matching Southwestern's 6-of-7 three-point clip in the second quarter, with a 5-of-7 third period from deep. The Builders came out a bit lethargic in the frame, hitting just four shots out of 13 tries to score a total of nine points overall. It was a 29-9 quarter for Sterling, effectively putting the battle back firmly within their grasp. The tally sat at 62-43 for the visitors heading into the final act.

The Warriors continued to shoot close to 50% in the final quarter, hitting 7-of-15 from the field to score a total of 21 points in the fourth. Southwestern shot 4-of-13 again in the fourth, matching their clip from the penultimate stanza. The Builders scored six fewer points than Sterling in the fourth, trailing 21-15 over that span. The final score wound up settling at 83-58 for the Warriors over the Moundbuilders.

Despite the somber ending to the game, multiple Southwestern shooters were able to produce nicely on offense, especially in the first half. Macey Pond led the team with 19 points on 7-of-13 shooting and a 5-of-10 clip from beyond the arc. She was followed up by Bryanna Williams, who delivered a 14-point performance with four made threes out of her five total made baskets on 11 shot attempts. The starting five made up all but one bucket for the Builders in this battle, as Denisha Anderson (8), Christy Wiebe (8) and D'Shonda Hunt (7) scored the final 23 points from the starters.

Pond was also impressive as a distributor, passing out four assists in the game out of the six that the squad compiled. Williams and Anderson were responsible for the two remaining dimes, splitting them evenly.

Hunt came up large on the boards, reeling in 10 rebounds for Southwestern. She had nine of those boards on the defensive end of the floor, effectively snuffing out extra possessions for the Warriors. Wiebe was also fabulous as a rebounder, hauling in eight boards for SC, while Anderson had four rebounds. Three of Anderson's collections came on the offensive end, as she continued to give second chances to the Builder offense.

Wiebe was credited with three blocks in the bout, as she played a part in rim protection for the Moundbuilders, alongside Pond (1) and Madi Jones (1). The team had just two steals, as the Warriors were their typical stingy selves on offense. Wiebe and Haven Matthews took the ball away from Sterling on one occasion each.

Southwestern (3-7, 0-4 KCAC) showed tremendous grit and effort in the opening half of play, but could not seem to keep that level of play for a full 40 minutes. Their next opportunity to do so will be this Thursday, December 1 at 6 p.m. in Hillsboro, Kan. against the Tabor College Bluejays. Following that tilt, they will return home to face York University on Saturday, November 3 at 2 p.m. for the squad's Holiday Game to end a three-game slate this week.

--buildersports.com--