The Calvary basketball team went 15-2 on the season as the team defeated Manhattan Christian College 71-63 on Tuesday night. With the win, the Warriors have now won 14 of their last 15 games and will go into the MCCC Tournament as the #2 seed.
“We knew it was going to be a tough game but this is the kind of win you have to have for a changing of the guard in our conference and in the NCCAA,” Warrior Head Coach Tressa Shoemaker said. “Manhattan is a quality program and they have been consistently getting national top ten votes throughout the season. We want to compete at the national level and we are doing that.”
The Warriors and Thunder traded the lead six times in the first quarter as the score remained close. Calvary was able to gain a 15 point advantage over Manhattan going into halftime with strong shooting from the guards and by holding Manhattan to nine points in the second quarter. “We were able to gain a good lead in the 2nd quarter and even though they came out strong in the 2nd half we were able to hold our lead with good passing and consistent rebounding,” said forward Anna Holloway.
Manhattan refused to go away and came out of halftime looking to get back into the game by spreading their offense out against the Warriors zone. “We did a good job in the second half of stopping their penetration,” said Shoemaker. “Manhattan did a great job with pressure at the end of the game to make that run.” The Lady Warriors were able to overcome that late run and full court pressure by the Thunder to finish with a 71-63 victory. Anna Holloway led the Warriors in scoring, finishing with 24 points. Taylor Hunter scored 15 and Shalom Sutcliffe finished with six points and four assists.
“Our team has been working all season on improving our inside presence,” stated Shoemaker. “During the first half, the guards handled the majority of our scoring. Throughout the second half our forwards impacted the outcome of the game in a large way both offensively and defensively.”
Next up, the Warriors will be at home in the MCCC Conference Tournament on February 15, 16.
The Calvary Women’s Basketball team faced both Faith Baptist Bible College, and Emmaus Bible College in a pair of games over the weekend. Calvary played Faith Baptist on Friday night. Faith came out strong and played tremendous defense in the first quarter. Calvary started to take control of the game in the second quarter and went into halftime with a 15-40 lead. The Lady Warriors never looked back after halftime as they came out of the gates with a 21-2 run that put the game out of reach.
Taylor Hunter led the Warriors with 21 points and 11 steals. Anna Holloway added 18 points and 10 rebounds. Calvary finished with a commanding final score of 70-25.
The Lady Warriors next faced the Emmaus Eagles on Saturday afternoon. Emmaus used full court pressure and a strong man-to-man defense to jump to a 30-14 lead by the end of the first quarter. Calvary was able to cut the Emmaus lead down to eight just before half-time with hot three point shooting from Taylor Hunter. With several players in foul trouble, the Lady Warriors were unable to find an answer for Emmaus in the second half and the final score was 103-73. Taylor Hunter finished with 26 points while Anna Holloway added 24. Anna Davis led the Warriors in rebounding with 7. “This was our first week of three games, and I am so proud of the girls for working hard in each game we played.” Said Coach Shoemaker. “We definitely learned a lot about our team and what we are capable of, and what improvements we need to make to step up in our competition. I am looking forward to our next games and the challenges ahead.” Next up on the schedule for the Lady Warriors is Ozark Christian College on Tuesday at home.
Strong rebounding fueled the Calvary women’s basketball team to a 56-50 win over Manhattan Christian College Tuesday evening in Kansas City. The game started with Calvary jumping to a 6-0 lead. Manhattan quickly bounced back and took back the lead at the two minute mark of the first quarter. The first half was a close contest with the score being tied three times, and both teams exchanging the lead four times. At the close of the first half, the Lady Warriors headed into the locker room with a seven point lead over Manhattan.
The Warriors didn’t let go of the lead after halftime and used a combination of man-to-man defense, and a 1-2-2 zone to hold Manhattan to shooting only 30% from the field. Calvary’s largest lead of the game was by 15 in the fourth quarter. The Lady Warriors overcame Manhattan’s attempts to come back in the final minutes and won their ninth game in a row 56-50. Anna Holloway and Anna Davis both recorded double-doubles with 12 rebounds and 13 points each. Guards Shalom Sutcliffe and Taylor Hunter each had five key steals. As a team, the Lady Warriors grabbed 50 rebounds and forced 28 turnovers. “I am so proud of these girls. The heart and effort that they put into practices rewarded them today.” Coach Shoemaker said. “They don’t give up and they push each other to their limits which creates a hard-to-stop dynamic on the court both offensively and defensively.” The Lady Warriors will next face Faith Baptist Bible College on Friday night at 6:00 p.m.
The Warriors suffered their 8th loss of the season on Tuesday night as the Manhattan Christian Thunder seemingly couldn’t miss from the three-point line as they defeated Calvary 88-71. Manhattan shot an impressive 49% from three-point range.
“No matter what defense we played, we really had trouble locating their shooters,” Warrior Head Coach Matt Sanders said. The Warriors were mostly playing their man to man defense and the Thunder kept getting the ball into the lane which cause Calvary to be out of position and have to over help.
Calvary came out fast like they have all season long and went up by ten points early. But as the half moved on and fatigue set in, the Thunder came back to take a four-point lead into intermission.
In the second half, Manhattan came out and simply outplayed Calvary from the four-minute mark on through the rest of the game with the final score being 71-88.
“We need to remember that we are just now starting our conference season,” Coach Sanders said. “It’s important to keep that in our mind. We’re learning lessons with each of these games which will prepare us for what we’re going to face later on this season. Anything can happen yet.”
Braydon Unruh led the Warriors with 14 points on the night while Zeb Green finished with 12 points. Next up, the Warriors will be at home Friday night as they battle Faith Baptist Bible College.
The Calvary women’s basketball team shot 47% from the field in their 88-57 win over Ecclesia College, improving their winning streak to eight in a row. The Lady Warriors came out strong, starting the game with a 9-0 run and ended the first quarter with a 22-11 lead. The Warriors never gave up that lead throughout the game and held Ecclesia to 31 points in the first half by using their tough 1-2-2 zone.
“It was very exciting to have such a good first half,” guard Shalom Sutcliffe said. “We went into the game with a really focused mindset. I have to give a lot of credit to the coaches for pushing us in practice so that we could come out so strong.”
The Warriors carried their momentum into the second half by holding Ecclesia to just 9 points in the third quarter with a strong man to man defense, finishing the third quarter 66-40. Forward Anna Holloway scored a career high 30 points while Taylor Hunter added 18. Haylee Evans contributed nine points off the bench tonight, shooting 3 for 4 from beyond the arc. The Warriors proved how deep their 2019 bench is with every player on the roster scoring in tonight’s win.
“I am really proud of the girls being able to come off Christmas break shooting 47% from the field.” Coach Shoemaker said. “We made it a goal to get 50 rebounds and we ended with 54. They worked hard in the practices leading up to this game and it showed on the court.”
The Warriors improved to 8-1, and scored a game high of 88 points for the season. The next 7 of 8 games on the schedule for the month of January will be played at home.
