Eagles Ready for Regionals After Tough Conference Tournament

By Jon Crossman

DUBUQUE, Iowa – With the vast majority of the regular season behind them, the Eagles are getting ready to buckle down for the regional contest being held at Faith. With that came the warmup in the MCCC Tournament, a chance to feel the competitive heat with some conference contenders before it comes down to the real deal. The Eagle ladies felt that heat early on in the conference tournament, facing off against the Calvary Warriors for the second time in the season. Even without the desired result, the Eagles improved on shooting greatly and showed rejuvenation in their fighting spirit with a second-half performance that had been missing in previous games.

Each team proved to be quite evenly matched on offense, for a game total of nine ties throughout regulation and seven changes in the lead, a testament to the hunger of both sides to get the game on their side. The Eagles started with the right formula, putting up perfect shots for the first half of the first quarter before the Warrior defense caught on for some ill-timed steals. Calvary got the first minor victory of the game at the initial buzzer, heading into the second quarter up six points. Faith's shooters fought back with a tenacious level of accuracy in the second quarter, hitting 50% of their shots and scoring 19 points to rival Calvary's 17 additional points. There was no slacking in the backcourt either, with only one foul being handed out by the Eagles' defenders, providing no easy buckets inside the paint. Faith headed into the second half on fire, down now by only four points at 35-31.

Known more for being an explosive team out of the gate and less for being a second half exemplar, the Eagles showed their team development by switching things up and staying in attack mode until the last whistle. Keeping the chemistry going for another amazing quarter of shooting (52.9%), the ladies 20-point barrage in the third was certainly nothing to overlook. Sarah Iler lead the comeback movement with her 9 points in the third, followed by Rachel Kleczka's 6 points from under the rim. Up by one going into the final bout, Faith had all the momentum. Unfortunately, Calvary's dry spell of shooting let up in the final minutes, where they hit back with a vengeance at 8-19 on shooting and locked down the paint with 11 rebounds versus the Eagles 6. A valiant second-half effort by the ladies resulted in their first loss at Dubuque for the weekend, 70-64.

By Jon Crossman

DUBUQUE, Iowa – The Eagles looked for another well-fought game on Saturday morning, matching the intensity and hunger of the Manhattan Christian Thunder in a bout that would determine the 5^th place winner of the MCCC Tournament. A disappointing finish led to another loss in the weekend, and Faith's finest headed home again with their heads held high in anticipation of the upcoming regional games with home court advantage.

Saturday morning yielded some interesting basketball, with each team making it evident that early-morning hooping was a challenge with Manhattan shooting 31.3% and Faith with a season-low 10.5% in the first quarter. After the blood started flowing and both teams shook off the cobwebs, shooting heated up for a total of 4 three-pointers between the two teams and a neck-and-neck race of 18-17 points scored in the second, Manhattan just barely beating the Eagles off the drive for the extra point. Faith trailed going into the second half by only a couple buckets, down 31-27 to the livelier Thunder.

The team needed a jumpstart to bring their energy back in the second half, and go-to clutch players Makenna Laib and Sarah Iler delivered with their savvy shooting package in the final seconds before the final quarter. With just 1:19 left in the third quarter and still down by over 10, the dynamic duo went to work, with Laib starting off with a quick three over her defender and then Iler answering 30 seconds later with another hot bucket from beyond the arc. Down now by only six with just under a minute left, the Eagle's first line set up a passing sequence around the Thunder perimeter to run the clock down, giving Laib just enough time before the buzzer to set up the last shot of the quarter. With her successful basket, Faith went fearless into the final quarter, sitting pretty on an impressive 55.6% FG and 23 points in the third quarter, the highest scoring quarter of the game thus far.

Carrying that momentum into the final 10 minutes of the game was the next challenge, something the Eagles have found to be a struggle all season. The quarter began with some uneasy passing moments for Faith, before a turnover opened up the Thunder offense to a 3-pointer and then an immediate and-one play afterwards, making for a brutal momentum-killer for the Eagles. The quick barrage didn't help close the gap, putting them back down by 13 after 4 minutes in. Of the 21 turnovers in the game, 8 of them were given up by the ladies in the last-ditch effort to overcome the Manhattan lead, making the hole even deeper as the clock expired. The game ended on a bittersweet high-note with a final three coming from Sarah Iler, her fourth of the game, and the Eagles fell to the Thunder 78-67 to close out the tournament.

Only one regular-season makeup game remains with a home game against Union college on Tuesday, starting at 6:00 p.m.