The halftime break during basketball games usually has teams disappear into the locker room, but Thursday澳门开奖 halftime of the Blackhawk women澳门开奖 home opener saw coach Chevis Thompson and sophomore leader Angel Maes still on the floor.
Thompson could be seen in defensive stances with Maes deeply engaged.
The result was a resounding 78-48 victory over Spoon River with Southeastern Community College displaying some sharp shooting from beyond the arc, canning 11 3-pointers.
Despite the display, Thompson was proud of the defensive effort of the Blackhawks in the win.
With an 11-4 lead, Thompson called two timeouts in the span of 30 seconds with under 5 minutes to go in the first quarter.
鈥淚 did not like our defensive intensity and I felt we were stagnant on defense,鈥 Thompson said. 鈥淲e needed to put more pressure on them so that澳门开奖 why I burned those two timeouts.鈥
The Blackhawks didn鈥檛 allow another point until under a minute remained when Alyssa Zarello from Bushnell, Ill., made a 3-pointer and a two for a 20-9 score at the end of the first quarter.
Zarello would finish as Spoon River澳门开奖 leading scorer with 19.
The Blackhawks countered with Danajah Peterson澳门开奖 game-high 23 points. Wearing No. 23 for SCC, Peterson had 15 points in the first half running the Blackhawks offense and pushing the ball in transition for easy scores.
Spoon River had a 13-3 run to get the score to six points but a Thompson timeout and two triples by Angel Maes sent SCC on a 17-6 run to a 43-25 halftime advantage.
鈥淭hat was good for Angel,鈥 Thompson said.
鈥淪he was excited to have a good game, especially in front of some of her peers.鈥
Naire Lucas, who finished with 14 points, scored six of the first nine Blackhawk points to start the second half and the lead quickly grew to over 20 points. Maes鈥 fourth three in the game and her only two gave SCC its largest lead at 32 points.
鈥淲hen I first came out here I wasn鈥檛 hitting any shots and as a sophomore I should be making these,鈥 Maes said. 鈥淚 like to win so I try to do my best on both sides. I feel like our defense is what is going to get us there.鈥
Maes totaled 14 points, Princess Ibeh scored 13 and Justice Green connected on four triples for her 12 SCC points. Victoria Escribano-Caguas added a pair of free throws to the Blackhawks total.
SCC improves to 2-3 with the win.
The Blackhawks play next on the Saturday after Thanksgiving with a game at Lincoln Land Community College.
