‘More fire’

T-Birds beat Westminster despite
sluggish first half

By DAVE DeMILLE
UNIVERSITY JOURNAL

SUU pulled away in the second half after a slow start, stopping a four-game losing skid and earning head coach Joe Hillock his school-record 85th victory with a 70-58 win over Westminster Thursday.
After a slow first period, the SUU offense turned it up in the second half, shooting 50 percent from the field after the break and out-scoring the Griffins 40-27 to move from a 43-37 deficit to a 12-point win.
“We just came out with more fire and determination at that point,” Hillock said. “We played more to our tempo, rebounded and played with more energy. We found people open underneath and looked inside.”
Guard Casey Cooke scored 10 of her team-high 15 points in the second half to lead the charge, while forward Lyndsay Weaver had a key three-pointer and a steal mid-way through the second half to spark the run.
The ’Birds also got a lift from up front. Forward Lacey Yates scored 13 points and had a career-high 13 rebounds — eight offensive — for her fifth double-double of the season, and center Sarah Hutton scored 11 on 5-10 shooting.
The increased offensive production and defensive intensity came from contagious energy midway through the second half.
“We finally stepped it up,” Hutton said. “Lyndsay Weaver had a couple of steals and a hit a couple of shots and that got us all up. It just takes one or two things to get us going.”
Weaver finished with 12 points and two blocks and was 5-8 from the field.
SUU enjoyed a decided height advantage underneath, as Westminster had only one player over 6-foot, and it showed in the rebounding statistics, with the T-Birds grabbing 41 compared to only 28 for the Griffins, including 16 offensive boards.
“We could have crashed the boards a little harder,” Hutton said. “But we did a good enough job. We still have work to do. We’re trying to be more consistent, and we’re not there yet, but we’re working on it.”
Forward Rebekah Steenblik led the Griffins with 21 points and 11 rebounds. Forward Jessica Richter added 16 points, and center Rachael Patterson had 15, but the rest of the squad managed only six points on
2-12 shooting.
After four straight losses, three of which were close enough to be within reach, the ’Birds were hungry to finally get the win.
A season-high 46 percent shooting percentage and a terrific rebounding effort helped the team to get off the snide.
“We’ve been coming up a little bit short,” Hillock said. “We haven’t been able to figure out how to stop it. It’s good to get a win and we need to play well now heading into conference.”
SUU WOMEN 70,
WESTMINSTER 58
Westminster (58) — Richter 7-14 0-0 16, Steenblik 9-16 3-3 21, Patterson 7-14 1-1 15, Allred 1-3 0-0 3, Terry 0-0 0-0 0, Berry 0-5 0-2 1, Kelly 0-2, 0-0 0, Price 0-0 0-0 0, Robbins 1-2 0-0 2, Olisa 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 25-56 5-6 58.
SUU (70) — Weaver 5-8 0-0 12, Yates 4-13 5-8 13, Hutton 5-10