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If the game between the University of Jamestown women’s basketball team and Briar Cliff University had ended at halftime when they were up by nine, the Jimmies (17-11, 10-10) would be a happy bunch.
Unfortunately for them and fortunately for the Chargers (17-10, 13-7), the game did not, and the home team was able to open the floodgates in the second half on their way to an 81-70 win on Saturday, Feb. 12 at Briar Cliff's Newman Flanagan Center in Sioux City, IA.
A Kia Tower three pointer put the Jimmies back up by 10 late in the first quarter.
One of the big contributors to that first half for the Jimmies was Tower, who noted that the team was ready to play right out of the gate.
"We came out with the energy, aggression and intensity that we needed to," Tower said.
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With 6:45 to go in the third quarter, the Jimmies’ Hannah DeMars hit a bucket and converted the and-one to stretch the lead out to 48-37. The Chargers would end the quarter on a 16-5 run to send it to the final quarter tied at 53.
The tide was able to turn toward the Chargers in Jimmies head coach Thad Sankey's eyes when his team as a whole and specifically Noelle Josephson struggled with foul trouble.
"I thought that a lot of it was connected with fouls," Sankey said. "First of all, we fouled them a lot and they shot a pretty big amount of free throws. We didn't get a lot of free throws until the last four minutes and then all of a sudden we're shooting free throws. Before that, the foul difference was huge and we kept fouling them. The other piece with that was Noelle. If anybody wants to know how big of an impact Noelle is to our team, take a look at what happens when she's in foul trouble against Dakota Wesleyan and take a look at what happens when she's in foul trouble against Briar Cliff tonight. We went from being up nine or 11 when she picked up her fourth foul to being tied at the end of the third quarter in about five minutes."
On the first possession of the fourth, Chargers’ Payton Slaughter knocked down the three to give her team the 56-53 lead, their first of the game. The Chargers’ Konnor Sudmann hit a three to make it 62-53 with 7:44 to go, drawing a Jimmies timeout. DeMars stole the ball and hit the layup to bring it closer at 62-57 with 6:10 to go in the game. With 4:37 to go in the game, the Jimmies' Madelyn Schmidt hit the basket to cut the deficit to 65-59, the closest the Jimmies would get down the stretch.
The Jimmies return home at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 17, when they face the College of Saint Mary. The Chargers are back in action at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 16, when they face Concordia.
UJ 70, BCU 81
UJ: 21 17 15 17—70
BCU: 12 17 24 28–-81
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Points leaders:
UJ: Kia Tower 21, Hannah DeMars 19, Madelyn Schmidt 10
BCU: Madelyn Deitchler 24, Konnor Sudmann 19, Kennedy Benne 14
Assists leaders:
UJ: DeMars 3, Tower 2, Noelle Josephson 2
BCU: Deitchler 3, Payton Slaughter 3, Benne 2, Cadence Davis 2
Leading rebounders:
UJ: DeMars 7, Megan Oswald 7, Josephson 6
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BCU: Deitchler 9, Mya Hendry 6, Benne 5
