Ladies Hold on for a Win in Testing Weekend of Games

By Jon Crossman

ANKENY, Iowa – The Eagles buckled up for a roller coaster weekend, facing some heavy contention against the #7 Barclay Bears and Manhattan Thunder in a bout of conference games. Faith fell early in the weekend and then regained some ground in the conference standings with a big win over the Thunder, leaving them one step closer to the looming conference tournament.

Looking to exact revenge from the 54-96 blowout against Barclay to start the new year, the ladies came into the first game of the weekend with lots of energy and force off the bench. Coach Monty had been putting a special emphasis on playing a high-intensity defense to prevent any easy baskets in 2-on-1 or even 3-on-1 situations, and the Eagles brought that wish to reality immediately after winning the first jump ball. Committing only 10 fouls in contrast to the Bears' 20 team fouls, the Faith ladies played with excellent fundamentals on their own half. It looked like a comeback might have been possible by the second half with the Eagles only trailing by 11, but their kryptonite in the form of turnovers came back to haunt them with another appearance. The 37 turnovers and a stunning 38 points in the paint from the Barclay first string left Faith bearing another loss, 47-64.

Heading into another chance to balance out the weekend tilt, the Eagles prepared to weather out the 5-player bench of Manhattan in what appeared to be a game of attrition. Makenna Laib brought the storm early on with a crisp 3-pointer just 5 seconds into the game, signaling a good start and an even better game of shooting for the Eagles. A few scares, like losing their 11-point lead in the final quarter and turning the ball over 26 times, shrouded the Eagles' energy, but they still held on to the lead with a strong rebounding performance (21 rebounds) and 17 points from big-time center Rachel Kleczka. The Thunder players ran into some trouble with just 10% shooting from the free throw line, and didn't help their cause anymore when point guard Jordan Lewis fouled out late in the 4^th quarter. Faith fended off their opponents to get a 63-58 victory, taking the lightning out of the Thunder for the second time in the season.

The Eagles look to get a win streak going on Tuesday at Kansas Christian College, with tip-off starting at 4 p.m.