A decent crowd of about 1500 showed-up last night to watch the women’s
basketball team show their progress after a full week of practice. The Cherry-Silver game pitted the mostly
veteran Cherry squad of Shetters, Vogt, Moore, Forest, McLeod, Montgomery and
E-Nunu against the younger Silver squad of Letz, Francis, Maddox, Briody, Arndt,
and Olude. The Cherry squad
won 74-72 on a last second clutch lay-up by Shetters. A potential game-winning three by the
Silver’s Letz rattled out at the buzzer.
The Silver squad was noticeably quicker outscoring the Cherry team 8 – 0
on fast break points. Led
with 15 points by track star Fatima Maddox, the Silver team played run and gun
offense. The Cherry team closed the
gap in the final minutes with some set plays and sharp passing. Cherry point guard Katie Montgomery hit
Moore with a fabulous pass for a bunny lay-up.
The brunt of the battle was in the paint as Jana Francis
battled Shetters, Forest, and Olude bravely. Francis scored 14 points, most from the
foul line and grabbed 10 rebounds for a double-double and almost a trifecta with
7 fouls in a hard fought post battle.
Melissa Forest led all scorers with 25 points, and 8 rebounds, while
Shetters scored 13 points and had 5 rebounds. Mandi Moore was the other double
digit Cherry player with 18 points, and 4 – 4 from the arc. Every player got double digit minutes
except Timi E-Nunu who has been suffering from a respiratory ailment (maybe
allergies?).
The Silver team had five players with double digit
points, Letz – 10 (2-6 from the arc), Francis – 14, Maddox - 15, Briody – 14
(2-6 from the arc), and Arndt – 13.
Olude had 6 points in limited minutes.
The experiment with Mandi at the two appeared to be successful, with
Mandi getting several good looks and opportunities for entry passes to the
post. Melissa Forest
continued to show her senior leadership and desire to end her Lobo career with
flair.
Fatima Maddox showed why she is a crowd favorite with
several coast-to-coast fast breaks and no-look passes. The other Lobos will have to watch at
all times or Fatima will ear-hole someone with a bullet pass.
Another interesting competition may be at the three, as
freshman Julie Briody will push sophomore Abbie Letz. Both are prolific scorers so this battle
may come down to defense.
Coach Flanagan is showered in riches this year with a
plethora of young talent. There is
little fall-off from 1-2-3 on the depth chart, allowing the opportunity to run
pressure defenses and fast break offenses.
Women’s basketball will be very exciting to watch as this young team
evolves. Can you say NCAA?
