Yellow Jackets sting Eagles, 82-67

Friday, the women’s basketball team traveled to Billings, Montana, hoping to pick up its first win of the season in its last non-conference game of the year against Montana State University-Billings. Even with the Eagles good defensive effort and spectacular second half, their efforts couldn’t secure them a win, they eventually lost to the Yellow Jackets, 82-67.

Maka Daysh, sophomore of Tauranga, New Zealand, led the Eagles offense, scoring 24 points on nine of 13 shooting from the field. She also shot six of nine from the free-throw line. Emma Block, senior of Copenhagen, Denmark, and Allegria Chisom, senior of Wichita, Kansas, each scored 12 points. The trio combined for 48 points of the Eagles 67 total team points. Stephanie Knowles, senior of Colorado Springs, Colorado, was a key factor in distributing the ball collecting eight assists for the Eagles, which led all players and accounted for half of the Eagles 16 total assists.

The Eagles did not shoot the ball well in the first half: shooting 28.57 percent from the field and 25 percent from the three-point line, which is where the real trouble for the Eagles began.

“In the first half we lacked focus on the offensive end but after halftime our focus changed,” Maddie Metzger, junior of Georgetown, Texas, said. “We all got on the same page and started playing as a team.”

In the second half of the game the Eagles shooting percentages improved tremendously shooting 73 percent from the field and 62.5 percent from the three-point line.

Defensively, Kayla Matthews, sophomore of Adelaide, Australia, was instrumental in keeping the Eagles in the game by collecting three steals which led the team for that evening. Daysh also collected two steals and Keren Boyce, junior of Arad, Israel, and Knowles both had one steal apiece to give the Eagles a total of seven steals. Boyce was the only player on the Eagles team that was credited with a block against the Yellow Jackets.

Block and Metzger tied in rebounds at four apiece for the Eagles, Daysh also contributed three rebounds the trio combined for 11 even out of the teams total 20 rebounds. The Eagles were good in transition on defense limiting the Yellow Jackets to only two fast break points the whole evening, but gave up a total of 18 second-chance points to the Yellow Jackets which played a key factor in the loss.

Statistically, the Eagles were just about even with the Yellow Jackets in about every category, both team scored 25 points off turnovers in the game and were both close in turnover totals the Eagles having 22 and the Yellow Jackets, with 20.

“The way we played in the second half was a great way to gear up for conference play this week,” Daysh said. “We learned a lot from this game and are ready to bring it this week.”

The Eagles begin conference play at 5:30 p.m., Saturday at home in the Chicoine Events Center against the Regis University Rangers.