Lady Cougars roll past St. Joseph's

Tony Ammann
Sports Editor

The Lady Cougars faced off with St. Joseph's College Saturday at the Vadalabene Center with the mission of taking sole possession of second place in the Great Lakes Valley Conference.

However, the anticipated matchup of St. Joseph's Angie Hupfer vs. SIUE's Misi Clark threatened to take precedence over the Lady Pumas vs. the Lady Cougars.

Hupfer and Clark entered the game as the conference's two leading scorers. Hupfer, the reigning GLVC Player of the Year, was averaging 24 points per game compared to Clark's 22.4.

The Lady Cougars (13-5 overall, 8-4 GLVC) put the sideshow out of the spotlight by taking an early 11-10 lead without Clark hitting one basket. Clark assisted forward Crystal Gladson on two passes inside, sparking an 8-0 run by the Lady Cougars. SIUE led 19-10.

The Lady Pumas (5-13, 3-9) got back into the game despite turning over the ball 11 times in the first half. Hupfer hit a baseline jump shot to cut SIUE's lead to 30-27.

But before Hupfer and the Lady Pumas could gain momentum, the Lady Cougars took over. SIUE guard Heather Hillebrenner hit a three-point shot and Sarah Larson converted a three-point play to key a 12-0 run by the Lady Cougars late in the half.

Although Clark was struggling from the field, she led the team with five assists in the half. Gladson scored 11 points, while center Sarah Cook had eight points and forward Sarah Sollberger knocked down two three-point baskets for six points. The Lady Cougars led 42-32 at the buzzer.

Forward Tamara Bumpers was the leading scorer for the Lady Pumas at the half with 12 points and Hupfer was right behind her with 10 points of her own. Jill Masters was the team's leading rebounder with five.

SIUE head coach Wendy Hedberg thought the Lady Cougars needed to work harder on the boards in the second half, although her team out-rebounded St. Joseph's 25-24.

"We did a much better job in the second half," Hedberg said. "I thought we controlled the boards better, which gave us the outlet and the opportunity to run."

St. Joseph's looked like a different team when the second half started. The Lady Pumas went on an 8-0 tear, which included two SIUE turnovers and two Hupfer baskets. Hedberg was forced to call a timeout and let the stunned Lady Cougars recuperate.

The Lady Cougars then looked like a different team by breaking out on an 8-0 run of their own and bringing their lead back to 10 points. Four different SIUE players scored during the drive, including a breakaway layup by Clark.

The Lady Cougars gained a comfortable lead but were not ready to quit. SIUE stretched its lead to 23 points when Liz DeShasier made a basket from a long pass by Clark. DeShasier, who scored a career-high eight points, was one of eight bench players to see action for SIUE in the game.

Hedberg thinks her bench is very capable of coming into the game and scoring points and was happy those players could see some time since the Lady Cougars had a healthy lead.

"Fortunately we had a game like this tonight where they could get some good minutes," Hedberg said.

The SIUE bench ran up the score and ran out the clock en route to a convincing 82-55 win. Gladson lead the team with 18 points, just one point shy of her career high.

Gladson was happy to come through for her team after suffering a heartbreaking loss to conference-leading Northern Kentucky University just one week earlier.

"I was really making an effort to come up strong," Gladson said. "I was looking for the ball and I was ready to go up strong and take it to them."

The Lady Cougars lost by just three points to the Norse on Jan. 29 at Highland Heights, Ky. The Norse (12-1) outscore opponents by an average of 18.7 points per game, which made the three-point loss hard for SIUE to swallow.

The Lady Cougars came back strong with a 83-58 win over Indiana University-Purdue University at Fort Wayne Thursday at the Vadalabene Center. The Lady Cougars played well in the paint Thursday as well, as Sollberger, Cook and Jill Johnson combined for 45 points.

"We have a great inside game," Gladson said. "When we're on, it opens everything up for the whole team. We're at a great level right now and playing really well as a team."

That same trio combined for 25 points against St. Joseph's and also pulled down 20 rebounds. Johnson's 11 boards were second to Gladson's team-high 12 rebounds.

SIUE is now tied with the University of Missouri-St. Louis for second place in the conference with a 9-4 record. The Lady Cougars will have to make hay on a five-game road trip, which begins with a 5:15 contest Thursday at Lewis University.