Bolivar, Mo- The SBU Women's basketball team had their first ever GLVC tournament appearance this evening as they hosted the University of Indianapolis Greyhounds. With the home crowd on their side, the Bearcats pulled out a huge victory 64-61.
"Indy is a great team, that is a very very talented team out there. We knew that they would keep fighting and keep battling and we just kept saying next right thing, let's just do the next right thing. Stay positive, stay confident and the other big thing we kept repeating is our defense, our defense, our defense. I'm just so proud down the stretch our defense got the stops we needed to finish this one out. What a fun game, so fun, our kids played at a high level the whole time. We were real locked in, even at halftime, just saying hey this fun, this is a fun game…really excited to be moving on and playing another game with these ladies."-Head Coach
Kelsey Keizer.
The game was tight down to the very end where the Greyhounds took a 1-point lead with 26 seconds left in the game. The Bearcats went to their star shooter in
Kyleigh Vaught, to take the final shot. As she drove down the lane with seconds to go, she was fouled and sent to the free throw line for two shots. She had ice in her veins with those, hitting nothing but net on both shots giving the Bearcats the winning point.
"She is a true competitor, hates to lose and I know she was going to do whatever she needed to get the victory today. Really proud of the confidence our team has in her when she gets to the free throw line and the confidence she had in herself. It was a no brainer that she was going to knock those two in and give us the lead we needed at that time. Again, I give a lot of credit to our entire senior class. They have played with so much heart and so much passion for the game of basketball and for this team and the teammates that they have in this group. I know the conversation was, we are not done, and we are not finishing this thing here and they played that way and led us in big ways…I am proud of them to have this moment, I am proud of this University to have this moment, to host our first GLVC conference tournament game as a Women's basketball team and to get the victory on the home court."-Keizer
The Bearcats relied on their defense this game as they shot just 36% from the field and 22% from three. They also took care of the ball only turning it over 6 times. Eight Bearcats contributed to the scoring with three reaching double-digits. Freshman
Kelsey Blakemore was one of those scoring 12 points. But it was the Seniors
Nyah Pettus and Vaught who led the way scoring 16 and 17 points respectively. Another Senior in
Mary Rose Foster wasn't going to let tonight be her last game and brought down a team high 8 rebounds and scored 7 points.
That win advances them onto the Quarterfinals in the GLVC tournament where they will take on the Southern Indiana Screaming Eagles. That matchup will take place at a neutral site in Edwardsville, Illinois in the First Community Arena on the campus of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Tip-off scheduled for 12:00 PM.
