Defense Leads Cavs in 79-47 Win over Willamette

11/15/2012 9:46:50 PM

BOX SCORE - Concordia vs. Willamette

PORTLAND, Ore.—True to head coach Aaron Christian’s promise to play tough defense this season, the Concordia women’s basketball team held Willamette to just 24.1 percent shooting on Thursday as the Cavs topped the Bearcats 79-47 in their second game of the regular season.
 
Concordia (2-0) never trailed in the game as the Cavs ran out to a 9-0 lead just over three and a half minutes in the game. The Cavs never let the Bearcats any close than seven points after that, and soon ran their lead out to over 20 points.
 
Concordia extended its lead behind an 18-3 run at the end of the first half. Defense again led the Cavs at the end of the half as the team held the Bearcats without a field goal over the final 7:04 of the period.
 
The Bearcats (0-1) wouldn’t make another field goal until 11:07 left in the game either, meaning the Cavs held them without a field goal for nearly 16 minutes of game time. The Bearcats missed 18 field goals in a row during that stretch, while Concordia stretched its lead out to as many as 42 points.
 
The Bearcats’ drought put the Cavaliers solidly in control, giving Concordia a chance to empty its bench. All players who dressed for the game scored as a result, while no one player dominated the team’s scoring. In the end, nine different Cavaliers had at least five points in the game, while only two players—Gabi Beyers and Malori Dixon—scored in double-digits for the Cavs (Beyers had 12 points, Dixon 11).
 
So far this season, the Cavs’ defense has now led them to two straight blowout wins after Concordia held New Hope Christian to just 23.8 percent shooting in its 67-46 season-opening win over the Deacons on Tuesday.
 
Concordia has been especially stingy in the first half of games when the outcome has still been in question. The Cavs held the Deacons to 17.2 percent shooting in the first half on Tuesday, while the Cavs held the Bearcats to just 18.5 percent in the first half on Thursday.
 
Individually against the Bearcats, Beyers’ 12 points led the Cavs with Dixon close behind with 11. After them, freshman Mckenna Daly had eight points for the Cavs, while Lexi Amundsen, Grace Cappleman, Caitlyn McCutcheon and Kelly Huey all had six points each.
 
Huey also posted another great all-around game from the point guard position as she had six points, nine rebounds and five assists against the Bearcats. Huey had five points, eight rebounds and six assists against the Deacons on Tuesday, giving her per-game averages of 5.5 points, 8.5 rebounds and 5.5 assists after the first two games of her Concordia career. Huey’s nine rebounds against the Bearcats tied for the game high on Thursday as well, along with Amundsen, who also had nine rebounds for the Cavs.
 
Concordia will now look to continue its strong defensive start to the season with a two-game, California road trip at the start of next week. The Cavs will first play William Jessup at 7 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 19, before playing Simpson the next day, Nov. 20, at 6 p.m. The Cavs will play their next home game a week after the Simpson game when they’ll host Lewis & Clark at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 27.