"They get it after it for all 40 minutes and are ranked 19th in the nation for a reason. We preached that we had to compete with them and that's what we did in the second half," says head coach Dustin Howard. "We have beat them on the boards when they have won it the last 10 or 12 games and that is a testament of how hard and well we played together. I can't wait to go play them again to see if we can do better."
Morgan Eddleman had a career-high of 18 points scoring 15 points in the second half. She hit 6-of-9 shots in the second half and two three-pointers to lead ETBU. Mary Slaughter added 15 points and eight rebounds with four blocks. Jaimie Kadlecek finished with five assists, seven rebounds, and four steals on the day. LC's Natosha Gottlieb led all scorers with 28 points.
ETBU's early 4-3 lead only lasted the first two minutes of the game. LC went on a 13-4 run to take an eight point lead and had a 14-point lead, 27-13, with 9:35 left in the half. Brandace Latin brought the lead down to 12, 29-17, at the 6:30 mark but LC finished the final six minutes on a 22-7 run for 28-point lead at the half, 51-23.
LC took their largest lead of 41 in the second half, 76-35, but ETBU battled back. They also had a 41-point lead, 80-39, with nine minutes to play as it looked like LC was going to hit the century mark. ETBU composed themselves and outscored LC, 20-10, in the last nine minutes to come within 31 points, 90-59.
ETBU finished shooting 35 percent from the floor, 15 percent from the arc, and 66 percent from the stripe. LC shot 38 percent from the floor, 27 percent from the three-point line (12-of-44), and 57 percent from the free throw line. ETBU won the rebounding battle, 50-48, but turned the ball over 30 times as LC had 25 steals.
ETBU will host the University of the Ozarks on Thursday, January 31st, at 5:30 p.m. in an ASC East game.