The Lady Warriors struggled on Friday afternoon as the team suffered a road loss to Maranatha Baptist University 59-65 in Ankeny, IA. The Warriors shot just 31% from the floor in the game as the team drops to 2-3 on the season. Anna Davis led the Warriors with her first double-double of the season with 12 points and ten rebounds.
“I was pleased with our defensive effort tonight,” Warrior Head Coach Tressa Shoemaker said. “We held a very good and athletic team to a shooting percentage that gave us a chance at the end, but we just struggled with our shooting percentage today.”
The Warriors came into the game having won two of their last three games. CU entered Friday’s game after back-to-back wins over Ecclesia College and Ozark Christian College.
From the opening tip, the Warriors were able to find open looks, but the team struggled shooting as they shot just 27% in the opening quarter. They rebounded well and had some great put backs that allowed them to take a four point lead into the second quarter after doing a great job of crashing the boards.
Calvary shot well from the FT line, but Maranatha was finding their offensive rhythm and doing a great job of moving the ball to get open looks of their own. The second quarter was very even with Maranatha going up by one at the half.
As the second half began, Calvary was getting points off Maranatha turnovers and were continuing to hold their own rebounding against a taller opponent. The score was tied four times throughout the contest, and it was headed towards being another nail biter.
In the fourth quarter, the Warriors went down by their biggest deficit of 11 points but then started to make one last charge. The team couldn’t get any closer than six in the end as the final buzzer sounded to hand the Warriors a 59-65 loss.
Anna Holloway gave the Warriors a lift in the post when Anna Davis left the game with an injury. She ended the contest with 14 points and nine rebounds.
Next up, the Warriors will be on the road again tomorrow as the team will face Trinity in the second round of The Christmas Classic.
Despite a valiant second half comeback from the Calvary Warriors, a Sabercat rally in the second overtime period fueled Maranatha Baptist University to a 92-101 victory over Calvary at the Faith Baptist Christmas Classic Friday evening.
Maranatha jumped out to an early lead in the first minutes of the game. Poor defense and some missed offensive opportunities haunted the Warriors early. Coach Matt Sanders substituted his defensive “Storm Troupers” into the game at the 14-minute mark. This group of defenders changed the speed of the game and started causing some Maranatha turnovers. This was a turning point in the first half as Calvary’s defensive pressure started to pay off. The defensive pressure would lead to 24 Maranatha turnovers throughout the game which was a huge part of the comeback at the end of regulation.
At the ten-minute mark of the second half, the defensive pressure got stronger and the Warriors got numerous back to back stops. The Sabercats only scored nine points in the last ten minutes of regulation. This allowed Calvary to continue to chip away offensively. Ike Maxwell and Braydon Unruh both hit big three-point shots as the second half was winding down to allow Calvary to go up by three in the final two minutes of the game.
“Ike was terrific off the bench for us tonight,” stated Sanders. “His seven points and seven boards were large for us. Joe really did a good job tonight as well. I was proud of our execution on both sides of the floor during that second half. We limited our turnovers to only eleven today. We really tightened some things up defensively in the last seven days as well and it was really evident tonight.”
Despite the execution on both sides of the floor for the Warriors down the stretch, the Sabercats came rallying back. After losing the lead with one minute to go they had one final chance to tie the game with 4.4 seconds left in regulation. They were able to hit a three as the buzzer sounded to force the game into OT.
“We didn’t make strong decisions down the stretch,” Sanders said. “We gave them an open three at the end of regulation. At the end of the first OT we had the chance to get a shot to win it and didn’t execute what we needed to.”
Going into the second OT the game was tied 89-89. Maranatha hit some key shots while they had some great stops at the defensive end to stop Calvary. Maranatha held on to the lead from this point on after making key shots down the stretch to clinch a 92-101 victory over Calvary.
“Despite the loss I am very proud of our team,” Coach Sanders said. “We will have lots of success in second semester of play if we can keep improving defensively like we did today. This team has no quit in them. I’ve never seen a team respond with this much fight.”
Ques Harris led the way for the Warriors scoring 25 points, six rebounds, and three steals. Zak Kirkman added 17 points, and seven rebounds while Braydon Unruh contributed 16 points, four steals, four assists, and nine rebounds.
Next up, the Warriors will face Trinity tomorrow. Tip-off is scheduled for 12:00.
After a highly competitive first half, the Calvary Warriors came up short in the second half as they fell to the Ecclesia Royals 79-93 Saturday night.
The Warriors jumped out quickly defensively and were able to pressure the ball consistently throughout most of the first half. As the first half was winding down, they had a few lapses and gave Royals shooters some wide open looks. Calvary went into the half down by seven.
In the second half, the Royals continue to build their lead. Calvary had 17 turnovers with only six assists. Ecclesia played well defensively throughout. The significant offensive stat is found at the FT line where Calvary missed 11 free throws.
Ques Harris and Demetrius White-Thomas led the way with 19 points each while Braydon Unruh contributed. 12 points and seven rebounds. The team will play their final semester games next weekend as they travel to Ankeny, IA for the Faith Classic.
The Lady Warriors picked up a terrific NCCAA win on Saturday as the team defeated a much-improved Ecclesia College team 86-70 in Springdale, AR. With the win the Warriors improve to 2-2 on the season.
“We’re happy with this result but more important I was proud we played really well,” Warriors Head Coach Tressa Shoemaker said. “Our defense was solid. We did a great job of making small defensive adjustments throughout the game that limited Ecclesia. We knew going in that rebounding would be key and we did a good job of getting position against an athletic team.”
From the opening tip, Ecclesia jumped out strong with a formidable full-court press. Calvary did a good job of being poised as they attacked each offensive possession. The team showed unselfish play offensively throughout as their offense was quite successful. The first half ended 36-39.
As the fourth quarter began, the Warriors were up by four points. It appeared this game would go down to the wire, but with three minutes to go in the game and with Ecclesia still within striking distance, Taylor Hunter was fouled hard and had to come out of the game with an injury. That injury caused a small offensive explosion for Calvary as Tori Veltkamp came in for Hunter to sink the two free throws. During the next three minutes the Warriors ended up going on a run and putting the game out of reach.
Taylor Hunter led the effort today with 33 points and ten rebounds. Anna Holloway added 21 points and ten rebounds, while Avery Kornstad contributed 19 points and nine rebounds.
The Warriors see their next action next weekend in Ankeny, IA at the Faith Classic.
The Warriors made some nice adjustments after the first quarter that allowed them to play almost even with the Patriots from Baptist Bible College through the rest of the game. The deficit from quarter one was too big in the end, as the Patriots defeated Calvary 73-91 in Springfield, MO. With the loss, the team falls to 0-2 on the season.
“We improved offensively throughout the game,” Warrior Head Coach Tressa Shoemaker said. “We did a good job of taking the ball to the hole and looking for open teammates. We got to the line and had some nice outside looks.”
“We are still struggling against pressure,” stated Shoemaker. “We are playing catch up with other teams right now due to our slow starting date to the season. They came out very fast to start the game and we will learn from that as we move forward. Our rhythm is coming. I am looking forward to coming back after Thanksgiving and tweaking things offensively to look at giving us the best opportunities to score. We need to believe in ourselves and what we can accomplish.”
“During the game we talked about when to transition and when we need to have patience offensively,” Shoemaker said. “We obviously need to continue playing and working through that. I was pleased with our man-to-man defense in the second half. We will need to come back after the break and put a lot of work into limiting second chance looks.
Taylor Hunter led the Warriors with 38 points and five rebounds. Anna Holloway added fourteen points, three steals, and three rebounds. The team will return from Thanksgiving with a game in Joplin, MO on December 1.
