The Wabash Valley College Lady Warriors broke through for their first win of the season Wednesday night with an 85-64 decision over Forest Park of St. Louis.
"Broke the ice, got the monkey off our backs," said Coach Zach Loll. "I'm glad, I'm glad."
The win was not easy for the Lady Warriors. They jumped out to a 4-0 lead only to have the Lady Highlanders take a 5-4 margin. But then Wabash Valley went on an 11-0 run, the first of three runs on the night. Danielle Dixon got it started with a bucket from underneath on an in-bounds play. Megan LaRue then added two buckets on fast breaks. Kira Carter hit a three-pointer form the left corner, and Dixon added another bucket, this one in the paint.
WVC had a 15-5 lead with 14:11 to play in the opening half.
Forest Park cut it back to five, 23-18, but again the Lady Warriors responded. They went on a 14-2 run that started with Wende Foster's two free throws with 9:04 to play. It ended when Carter dropped in another trey, this one from the right corner, with 4:36 to go. That gave the Lady Warriors a 37-20 lead.
Forest Park narrowed it a bit, to 39-27, but the Lady Warriors hit three unanswered buckets to take their biggest lead of the half, 45-27. They held a 45-29 lead at the break.
The Lady Warriors defense provided the opportunities for the offense. Inside, Foster had five blocked shots by halftime; she ended the game with eight.
Forest Park was staying alive with the three-pointer. The Lady Highlanders were six of 11 in the opening half, 54.5 percent.
In the second half the Lady Warriors usually held leads in the 10-point area. Forest Park, however, dropped in a pair of treys, one each by Christina Harris and Brittany Cook, to narrow the Lady Warriors lead to 57-50 with 12:17 to play. The Lady Warriors responded with a 13-0 run and a 70-50 lead.
That run started with Charnequoia Jackson's drive down the lane and ended with Foster's baseline jumper. Forest Park never got closer than 16 after that.
Wabash Valley dropped in seven of eight free throws in the last two minutes, 51 seconds to ice the win.
"It feels good," said Loll, "and I think the people that came out tonight and saw us can see we're improving, we're getting better."
Loll admitted the Lady Warriors were playing two tough teams in its first two games, against Jefferson and at Three Rivers. "But the girls continue to work hard and this is good for them, it gives them a little confidence," he said.
"We had good play out there - balance, I thought. I thought we did a better job of executing, looking to make the extra pass at times. A couple of time outs I took I wanted to get my point across, what I wanted done. I want them to make plays but they need to understand when they're out there and I want something to be done that we do it," Loll said.
"They're out there to be players and if we lose games because we do what I want to do I'll take the blame. But if they're out there doing what ever they want to do then I'm going to let them know about it," he added.
Carter led three Lady Warriors in double figures with 27 points. LaRue added 12 and Kristen Washington scored 10.
The Lady Warriors hit 31 of 78 field goal attempts overall, 39.7 percent, but were only three of 14 from three-point range, 21.4 percent.
Forest Park was led by Christina Coney with 31 and Cook with 18.
The Lady Highlanders hit 19 of 59 overall from the floor for 32.2 percent, and were 10 of 24 from three-point range for 41.7 percent.
Wabash Valley hit 20 of 28 free throws, 71.4 percent, while Forest Park hit 16 of 18, 88.9 percent.
The Lady Warriors held a 39-26 rebounding margin. Carter had nine caroms for WVC with Foster and Washington grabbing seven each. Tranae Avery had seven for Forest Park with Annie Peterson pulling down six.
Forest Park turned the ball over 25 times and Wabash Valley had 14 steals. The Lady Warriors turned it over 10 times and Forest Park had three steals.
BOX SCORE
Forest Park: Avery, 0-0-0--0; Smith, 1-0-0--2; Asher, 0-0-0--0; Coney, 2-5-12--31; Peterson, 2-1-0--7; Cook, 3-3-3--18; Harris, 0-1-0--3; Hutt, 1-0-0--2; Wade, 0-0-1--1; Totals, 9-10-16--64
Wabash Valley: Acree, 2-0-1--5; LaRue, 5-0-2--12; Davis, 0-0-0--0; Jackson, 3-0-0--6; Washington, 3-0-4--10; Carter, 5-3-8--27; Foster, 3-0-3--9; Fewkes, 0-0-2--2; Dixon, 3-0-0--6; Totals, 28-3-20--85
Technical foul: Wabash Valley - Foster
Ejected: Wabash Valley - Jackson