Duhawks contine streak

LORAS 66 LUTHER 59
Duhawks tune up defense in second half
Saturday, January 24

It was five years since Loras last won at conference power Luther and after facing a 7 point halftime deficit on Saturday, a few locker room adjustments were on tap if Loras wanted to reverse the old order. With a high emphasis on half court defense, the Duhawks opened up the second frame with a 14-4 run and quickly turned its deficit into a five point advantage. Luther battled back and tied the game at 49 with almost 10 minutes to play but the Duhawks would limit the Norse to just 10 points the rest of the way. On the half, our second best defensive efficiency half of the year, Luther finished shooting 27.6% and converted on just 8 field goals.

Offensively, it was a tale of two halves as well. Loras shot 38% in the first half compared to 52% in the second.For the second time this season, the Duhawks placed five players in double figures. Mindy Meyer recorded a double-double with 12 points and a game high 10 rebounds. Sarah Pillon led the team with 16 points, while Alex Hudson (13), Lisa Morrissey (11) and Lindsay Bava (10), completed the list of top point producers.

Loras, who entered the day alone in second place, increased its league record to 7-2 and plays host to Wartburg on Wednesday…a team that handed Loras one of the two IIAC lossesin the first half. Video and Audio available as always on the top right.

1 Game Season…with 1-0 the goal…

GO DUHAWKS!

-Coach J

Bava named weeks top SG in Division 3

The Iowa Conference scoring leader and IIAC Female Athlete and Women’s Basketball Player of Week joined the D3hoops team of the week. Bava led Loras to two IIAC wins on the week. She matched a career high with 30 points in a win vs. Cornell, shooting 10-for-12 from the field, 5-for-5 from three-point range and 5-for-5 from the line. She followed that with a 17-point performance on 6-for-13 shooting in a win at Buena Vista. For the week she shot 64 percent from the floor, 73 percent from beyond the arc and was perfect from the line.

The Team of the Week is in its 12th season and recognizes the top performance at each of the five positions from the previous week. http://www.d3hoops.com/tow/09/jan18.htm

Duhawks Roll!!!

LORAS 96 CENTRAL 69
Loras shoots past Dutch to remain in 2nd in IIAC race
Monday, January 19

The Loras College women’s basketball team upped their IIAC record to 6-2 with another home win…this time over the Central College Dutch.

The five Duhawk starters shot a combined 33-44 from the field (75%) as Loras stretched a 10 point halftime lead to as many as 27 (82-55) in the second half. Junior Lindsay Bava, who earlier in the day was named the IIAC’s Female Athlete of the Week, scored a game high 26 points on 9-of-11 shooting. She was followed closely by Sarah Pillon, who posted her second consecutive 20+ performance on 7-10 shooting in just 15 minutes of action. Both sharpshooters finished 4-6 from long distance and helped tie the Loras single game record for most 3’s (13). On the night, the Duhawks finished 13-22 from deep (59%) and were equally as efficient (37-58) from the floor (64%). Loras turned in a second half defensive effort that saw the Dutch shoot 33% from the floor and limited their dangerous outside game to just a 3-15 night from beyond the arc on the night.

They were +10 in rebounding (38-28) and dished out 26 assists on those 37 field goals. Lisa Morrissey posted a career high from the point guard spot with 16 assists, just one off the school record. Mindy Meyer, who continued her hot play, added a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.

Saturday’s matchup at Luther is a huge one! After a slower start, the Norse are riding three quality conference wins in a row and are right in the mix of the conference race. Audio/Video/Live stats all available for this battle!!!!

As always….GOOOOO DUHAWKS!

-Coach J

Last Weeks Recap: Cornell and Buena Vista

Loras 77 Buena Vista 75
Duhawks gain 10th win at Storm Lake!
Saturday, January 17

The Duhawks, now sole owners of 2nd place in the IIAC, trailed by seven points at the half and by as many as 14 (13:29) in the second half before rattling off a convincing 20-6 run to tie the game a mere six minutes later. In a see-saw last portion of the second half that saw 4 ties and no lead larger than 4, the play by play read something like this…10 seconds left, our ball, game tied at 75. Lisa Morrissey gets the inbound pass and dribbles the length of the floor, reverses her dribble and finds a flashing Mindy Meyer for a layup with 1 second left.

After 15 first half turnovers, Loras tuned up the fundamentals and played the second 20 minutes with an impressive 14 assists and 1 turnover. After an uncharacteristic first half, Lindsay Bava paced the Duhawks with 14 second half points and aided to the teams 55% shooting clip

Sarah Pillon set a career high with 22 points and rounded out her performance with 7 rebounds and 6 assists. Bava finished with 17. Meyer added a season high as well with 18 and chipped in 10 rebounds. Alex Hudson finished two points shy of a triple double (8 points, 10 rebounds), and Lisa Morrissey tallied a 9 assist second half to finish the game with 11.

Loras 63 Cornell 58
Duhawks hold off pesky Rams
Wednesday, January 14

The Loras College women’s basketball team posted their ninth win of the 2008-09 season with a victory over Cornell College. Junior guard Lindsay Bava tied her career high with 30 points on 10-of-12 shooting. She made all five of the long distance shots she attempted as well as all five free throws. She added seven rebounds and three assists to her final stat line to lead the Duhawks past the Rams.

Alex Hudson was the only other player in double figures with 10 points to go along with her five rebounds. Lisa Morrissey turned in another balanced game with nine points, five rebounds, and seven assists. Duhawk starters also combined for 10 steals on the night.

Loras shot 45% for the night from the field and 7-of-18 from long distance. They won the rebounding battle 39-32 and held the Rams to 33% shooting. With an eight point halftime lead, the Duhawks came out of the second half running and increased their margin to 13. A string of turnovers (25 for the game) kept the Rams close much of the rest of the second half.

Simpson Recap/Cornell Preview

This past weekend saw Loras at #10 Simpson…a team that has quite the resume overall, and at home…and a team that proved their ranking this afternoon. With an early Duhawk 10-6 lead, Simpson rattled off an impressive 23-3 run over a 10 minute span to lead 29-13 and entered the half up 47-29. Throughout much of the half, we failed to stay structured offensively and credit the Storm for really taking us out of rhythm. We struggled to reverse the ball with consistency and settled for jump shots instead. The Storm controlled every aspect of the game and their mentality and depth wore us down to a 80-52 tune. Boxscore They outscored us by 18 in the paint, by 29 off the bench, and by 13 in transition, the latter of which is the first time that happened this year.

There were some positives, especially in the second frame

• Our post game was as strong as it has been this year
• I thought we played harder after halftime with a competitive energy

Despite our strength of schedule, they are as good of a team (Division 2 or 3) that we saw this year. Beatable, most definitely, just not that day. We most certainly look forward to a rematch at our place in late February and bringing the style of game we thrive in.

Next on the docket is Cornell…the Rams come to Dubuque on Wednesday for a really important rebound game for us–literally and figuratively. Cornell was able to hang around a little last year with us because they rebounded offensively. Energy, rebounding, and composure are the keys to this one. The Rams will pressure us and are a signature defensive team. We must look to patiently control the ball in the half court and establish a fast break in the full court. The game will be broadcast via audio and video through the Loras website…links above as always.

GO DUHAWKS!
-Coach J

The Rivalry

In the world of collegiate athletics, no other venue or division holds more of a unique twist to the rivalry that Loras holds with the University of Dubuque. In all of college sport, there are no two teams with a closer proximity in the same conference…in the same division. Upon my arrival at Loras last year, the films and stories of past years debriefed me to what was simply coined “the rivalry on the river.” Last year, our Associate Athletic Director Jane Specht told me that they playbooks really don’t matter when Loras and Dubuque meet…and after playing each other three times a year ago…that couldn’t be more true. It is truly a game of 40 minutes of emotion and pure will.

The Spartans made the four block trek down Loras Blvd. on Wednesday night to the AWC for another big game in the IIAC. After a first half that challenged our ability to keep control, not so much of the scoring column, but of our tempo and poise, I thought we finally started to find some sort of rhythm with 6 minutes remaining in the opening frame facing a 6 point deficit. Our defense charged a 25-5 run over the next 11 minutes that spanned into the second half to lead 39-25. I thought our flow offensively was much better during that stretch than how we started the game but again, the team executed our defensive gameplan very well. Dubuque would cut the lead to 6 in the late going only to see your Duhawks convert on 7 of 8 free throw attempts down the stretch…spoiling any upset bid by the visitors. Boxscore

Defensively, I was happy with our effort. I thought we got on the floor for nearly every loose ball and our bench showed the most emotion they had all year. I was happy with our “want” and the emotion we played with. Again though, we gave them a lot of their points through turnovers and missed rebounding assignments…finding a way to shore up those aspects will make us a more consistent contender.

Key performances to the game:

• Alex Hudson’s defensive effort on Dubuque’s leading scorer holding her to 1 point
• A balanced scoring effort that saw all five starters in double figures
• Clutch free throw shooting down the stretch
• Limiting the Spartans to 19% shooting from the 3 point line

Our next game–Saturday at Indianola, IA–brings yet another test as we tip off with #11 Simpson and their 2-3 zone. Links to audio and video for the 2PM tipoff above!

GO DUHAWKS!
-Coach J

Latest National Rankings

The latest update in the national statistics for all those number crunchers out there 🙂

• Free Throw Percentage–ranked 4th in the nation–78.0%
• 3 point %–ranked 11th in the nation–38.4%
• 3 point field goals per game–23rd in the nation–6.9
• Field Goal Percentage–ranked 29th in the nation–44.2%
• Scoring Offense–ranked 59th in the nation–71.6 ppg

On an individual level,

• Lindsay Bava sits 20th in scoring at 20.1ppg
• Lisa Morrissey ranks 24th in assists dishing out 5.3 a game
• Bava also ranks in the top 50 in free throw percentage at 87.1%

Catching Up…Wisconsin Lutheran and Wartburg

Welcome to 2009!
I think I owe a few games to recap…starting with the end of the 2008 calendar year, one that saw us in Milwaukee, WI in a battle with Wisconsin Lutheran College. Other than the getting back to the school that gave me my diploma, the game against WLC excited me because of the challenges defensively they provide. They boasted a pair of really strong guards and an experienced team overall, one that did win their conference last year so by no means a gimme.

After four first half ties and lead changes, Loras, which shot 53.8 percent from the floor in the half, went into the locker room holding a 37-33 lead. The halftime speech focused on simple execution as our staff collectively felt that we gave the Warriors a lot of free points off missed rebounding assignments–16 to be exact.

We built a lead to a game-high 10 points (54-44) with 11:03 left to play in the second half. Wisconsin Lutheran answered back with an 18-6 run to take a 62-60 lead with 4:35 left on the clock. We shored up things on the defensive end to close the game on an 8-2 run. A key second half defensive effort limited the Warriors to 33% shooting. For the game, the Duhawks shot 51% from the field (25-49), 40% from 3 (6-15), and 80% from the line (12-15). Lindsay Bava continued her hot play with a 28 point effort going 9-13 from the floor and 8-9 from the line. Sarah Pillon added 12 and Mindy Meyer chipped in 10 points and 9 rebounds.
It was a game, right before Christmas break, that did reveal a few things to our young squad…the importance of the little things and how a block out or a turnover…just one possession…can impact an entire game.
Box score

Last Saturday marked the beginning of a string of 16 consecutive conference games…the best time of the year. It is hard to believe we are at the halfway point already but this month of January traditionally just flies by. Our opponent: Wartburg College…a team that came in with a similar record and a definite player in the conference race…then again, almost all teams in the IIAC are contenders every night; that is part of the reason that makes the conference so special.

In a quick recap…we would love to forget this one. The Knights used a 3 point barrage to continuously minimize runs of ours and extend leads they held. With Wartburg up 13-7 less than seven minutes in the half, we did really as close as 35-34 early in the second half but could never get over the hump, much in part to a season low and uncharacteristic 27% shooting clip in the second half, and hindered by an ability to consistently contest a few of their terrific shooters.

Sarah Pillon led the Duhawks with 17 points on 50% shooting from her guard position and adding four assists. Lindsay Bava, who came in leading the IIAC in scoring finished with 14 while Alex Hudson added 12 and a team high 8 rebounds

Boxscore

The Wartburg loss pins your Duhawks at 7-5 on the year, (2-1 in the IIAC) with intercity rival and conference foe University of Dubuque waiting in the wings on Wednesday. Dubuque should be an interesting game of similar yet contrasting styles.

Stay tuned for more and continue to follow your Duhawks via audio or video the rest of this competitive conference race!!!

-Coach J