Poor shooting percentage and 16 offensive turnovers result in 68-60 loss
By: Christian Hargas
Sports Editor
The STLCC Lady Archers lost their conference matchup, 68-60, to the Mineral Area Cardinals on Monday, Feb. 8.
The Lady Archers were coming into the game winners of 10 of their last 13 contests. There were several mistakes made early in the game that contributed to the loss, Head Coach Shelly Ethridge said.
“Well, I do not think we played a good game,” Ethridge said. “The first quarter, in particular, really set the tone because it did not look like we were ready or prepared for the game. But our kids fought and battled.”
With Mineral Area Cardinals ranked fourth in the nation this was going to be a tough contest, Ethridge said.
“We had every opportunity to win this game, but we did not execute and we certainly had a bad night of shooting,” Ethridge said.
The Lady Archers shot 32 percent on field goals and 12 percent on three-point shot opportunities.
Freshman Guard Shania Thornton was one of the leading scorers with 12 points.
Freshman Guard Sheena Bourne-Buckley added 12 points and Sophomore Guard Shiana Carrington led the team with 13 points.
Trailing 31-25 heading into the half, there were some adjustments that were made to improve their chances in the second half, Ethridge said.
“Well you know, the biggest adjustments we needed to make were just getting back into transition and getting the ball to slow down,” Ethridge said. “We had a few miscues where we had some people left completely unguarded, so that was also a big discussion that we had during our halftime talk.”
Sophomore Forward/Center LaShonda Brewer scored 10 points off the bench.
“LaShonda Brewer had a great game for us tonight,” Ethridge said. “Getting the ball back to our side a little more in the second half was critical for us, so it was good to get to see her [Brewer] do that. I thought our kids showed a lot of character because they always fight and give themselves opportunities to come back.”
Based on the second semester performance thus far, a good lesson was learned from this loss, Ethridge said.
“You know, there have not been a whole lot of games where we have had to play coming from behind since the second semester started,” Ethridge said. “This will be humbling for us and will give us a little more fight and grit that we need going into the region tournaments. This was a good game for us to have because it can prepare us for potential ‘come-from-behinds’ and the importance of winning a game.”
The Lady Archers record dropped to 12-12 following the loss to Mineral Area.
Winning 10 of their last 14 games has the team feeling good about themselves despite being at .500 right now, Ethridge said.
“I most certainly like where our team is right now,” Ethridge said. “I do not think we have peaked yet, so that is good. And I think we are approaching that [peak], so hopefully we can hit that peak when we are in the region tournament.”
The Region XVI Tournament is Friday and Saturday, Feb. 26 and 27 in Joplin, MO.
The potential opponent has yet to be determined but the Lady Archers feel like they have good momentum, Ethridge said.
“They have come a long way. So as long as we keep progressing over the next four games, I think going into the region tournament we will be pretty confident,” Ethridge said.
