WMU Lady Broncos unable to finish, fall to Washington 71-63

By Katrina Murphy
Sports Editor

As the Star Spangled Banner played to begin the game, the look on the faces of all 12 players of the Western Michigan University women’s basketball team said it all – they wanted to win.

Unfortunately, that win didn’t come to them.

Despite a strong fight to the end, the Lady Broncos fell to the University of Washington Huskies in a 71-63 decision.

“I just don’t feel like we came out with the same intensity,” said Bronco head coach Tasha McDowell. “I thought that we were a little flat tonight and I don’t think that we did a very good job of shooting the basketball or sharing the basketball tonight and that was something that we focused on last game and then we fell far short of that tonight.”

One obstacle the Lady Broncos faced in the first half was the intensity of play the Huskies pushed. In the first half alone, WMU gave up 15 turnovers on which Washington managed to score 15 points off of.

Leading the way for the Brown and Gold in the first half was junior forward Ebony Cleary, who has missed the last 10 games due to an injury. Cleary put up eight points and three rebounds, despite having to leave the court to bandage her left hand during the 17 minute mark.

“I’ve been waiting a minute to get back and now that I am I’m trying to make my team better and make myself better,” said Cleary.

As the second half began, the Huskies seemed to play with a renewed energy. Within the first four minutes of play in the half, the Purple and Gold had outscored the Broncos 11-4, putting the Huskies in the lead 34-26.

“I think it was the turnovers,” said Cleary. “That was inexcusable so we gotta pick it up for the next game.”

A technical foul by Husky center Laura McLellan seemed to turn things around for the Lady Broncos. Junior guard Brenna Banktson shot 1-for-2 at the charity stripe as sophomore forward Miami Giden grabbed the board and put up a quick two points.

In a three minute span, the Brown and Gold went on to score eight quick points; however, the streak was cut short as the Huskies continued to one-up the Brown and Gold.

“I really just feel like we turned the basketball over too much and didn’t get opportunities to score buckets but we were trying to get something going,” said McDowell. “It was kinda one of those slow, grind-it-out games and Washington got the upper-hand tonight.”

In the end, Cleary finished with 14 points and eight rebounds, while Giden finished with 12 points, three rebounds, one assist and one steal.

The Lady Broncos will have a few days rest before they return to play on Tuesday, Dec. 29th when they compete in the James Madison Classic in Harrisonburg, VA.

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Posted by heraldstaff on Dec 22 2009. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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