LADY COUGARS GO TOE-TO-TOE WITH LADY PIONEERS IN 62-52 WIN
The lead may have changed eight times in Friday night’s women’s basketball game between Cleveland State and Volunteer State, but the outcome ended in the Lady Cougars’ favor.
The lead may have changed eight times in Friday night's women's basketball game between Cleveland State and Volunteer State, but the outcome ended in the Lady Cougars' favor.
The Lady Cougars (7-4, 3-2) overcame an "inconsistent" start and battled back to defeat the Lady Pioneers 62-52.
"It's those inconsistencies," Cleveland State head women's basketball coach Dan Lumpkin stated.
"We'll have times when we get in great transition, but are missing layups. We've got good players that can go, we've got good speed and quickness, but you have to make the layup at the end of the transition or it really doesn't matter, it's wasted effort. We would like to see conversion of more of those transitions."
This was the Lady Cougars' second win of the week, as they had also defeated Milligan College's JV team 83-58 on Tuesday. Cleveland State now has a record of 4-2 at home.
Leisa Butler posted another impressive performance, scoring 19 points in the game. Butler hit 3-of-5 from perimeter and had five rebounds and two steals Friday night. Keya Jenkins finished with 12 points and led the team in rebounds with 10, eight of which came off the defensive boards. Abby Hubert (pictured) rounded out double-digit scoring for the Lady Cougars and put up 12 points in the game, which included two 3-pointers.
Volunteer State, who currently only has seven players on its roster, gave Cleveland State all that it could handle and more in the first half. They outscored the Lady Cougars 18-15 in the first quarter and then despite putting up only eight points to their host's 13, the Lady Pioneers still had a two-point, 28-26 lead at halftime.
"They battle everybody. They beat Columbia in a conference game earlier, they played Wallace State Alabama in a very close, seven-point game," Lumpkin explained. "If they can play how they want to play, play that zone for as long as possible and then take their time on offense and get what they want on the inside, they're good."
The Lady Cougars came out fresh and focused to start off the second half.
In the third quarter, they outscored Vol State 17-10, which gave them a 45-36 lead going into the final quarter. The two teams proved to be evenly matched in the fourth quarter, where the Lady Cougars put up 17 more points on the board and the Lady Pioneers answered with 16 points of their own.
The final push by Volunteer State wasn't enough to take the lead back, as Cleveland State walked away with a 10-point victory.
According to Lumpkin, better shooting and improved rebounding made a big difference in the second half.
"They started playing us more man in the second half, and they played almost entirely zone in the first half and we struggled shooting. We maybe made 3-of-10 in the first half from the perimeter and that's not a good percentage, that means you're missing seven," the coach detailed. "We want to get to the basket to create the high percentage shot and get to the free throw line ‑ we were definitely able to do that in the second half. We finally started rebounding better in the second half. The rebounding numbers were really close in the first half and they were getting a lot of second chance points offensively."
The Lady Cougars ended the night with 42 total rebounds, 25 defensive and 17 offensive. The team also had 10 steals.
In the first half their field goal shooting percentage was only at 31 percent, but they were able to make 40 percent of their shots in the second half for an overall shooting percentage of 35 percent.
Porchia Turner had nine rebounds in the game and Julia Gaither had five assists.
Cleveland State's final home game of 2016 is December 3 at 4 p.m. against conference opponent Motlow State. The Lady Cougars then hit the road on Thursday to take on Gadsden State Community College in the last game before Christmas break.
Basketball resumes on Jan. 7 for the Lady Cougars, who host Wallace State Community College-Hanceville in a conference matchup.
