Queen Bees Keep On Winning
In what has become almost a rivalry for the St.
Ambrose Queen Bees (12-10, 2-0), the game against the William Penn Lady
Statesmen (4-11, 0-1) sure proved that it would keep moving the teams
closer to being rivals.
“This is a tough place to play, I call it the
‘Goul’s Den,’” Queen Bees coach Ted Eskildsen said.
“You have got to come here ready to play, if you’re not ready
to play, they could knock you off.”
The Queen Bees were ready to play despite another
close game, where both team battled back and forth, with the Queen Bees
prevailing to an 82-74 victory and staying unbeaten in their last four
games and winning their last six of seven.
Led by four Queen Bees, who all scored in double figures, were the
“Big 3” and Michelle Kurth.
The “Big 3,” consisting of senior Kate Tuttle and
juniors Kellie Metz and Angie Schinstock combined for 54 of the teams 82
points. Tuttle led all
scorers with 22 while dishing out four assists and five steals.
“We had a goal to be .500 by the start of the
conference season (which they were at 10-10) and stepping up and getting a
big win here was huge for us,” Tuttle said.
Metz was not far behind with 19 points and also
grabbed a game high eight boards. Kurth,
who put in a solid performance, with 16 points and game high eight boards,
also chimed in with three assists.
“We knew that they were going to be bigger than us
so I knew that I was going to have to work twice as hard,” Kurth said.
“ I haven’t had a good game in a while, so this was a
confidence booster for me.”
Schinstock added 13 points and six rebounds on the
night.
It was a back and forth battle for the majority of
the first half with the Lady Statesmen going up by as many as five.
A lead that didn’t last long as the Queen Bees would go on a 16-3
run with 10:59 to go in the half to give them a 53-38 lead.
All of this started on a pass from Maggie Hughes to
Tuttle who nailed a three-pointer. Hughes
led the team and the game with eight assists and is fitting comfortably
into the starting point guard role.
“I knew that it was going to be a gradual process
for me,” Hughes said. “Things
started to change for me (on the Florida trip) when I took over glad that
it happened before conference, I feel like I am ready now.”
“Maggie Hughes is starting to grow up a lot at the
point guard position,” Eskildsen said.
“I like the way we are evolving and we have to continue evolving
to defend our championship.”
It
didn’t take long for the visitors to battle back, climbing within four
at halftime, with the Queen Bees leading 42-38.
But the Queen Bees came out ready to go, using an 8-0 run to start
the second half, giving them a 15-point lead.
The Lady Statesmen would try to chip away at the
lead, and would come as close as five with 1:24 to go in the game on a Kim
Morrill lay-up. As Morrill
made her last bucket of the night, so did the Lady Statesmen and their
run.
Morrill finished with a team high 18 points and six
rebounds. Also in double
figures for the Lady Statesmen were Christine Weingart, 14 points and six
boards, and Kristina McNew, 12 points, four boards and three steals.
“To come out of here with a win and everybody else
in the conference still has to come in here, WOW, that’s a big win,”
Eskildsen said.
The Queen Bees will return home to face off against
another top MCC team, Grand View College.
The men’s/women’s doubleheader will tip-off Saturday at 1:00,
with the women’s game first, with the men following at 3:00 p.m.
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