By: Mackenzie Dalgleish
Box Score Burnaby, BC - The Simon Fraser University Clan women's basketball team beat a ranked team for the second straight game, defeating number 18 Northwest Nazarene University Crusaders Thursday night, 75-66 in the West Gym.Â
It marked the first home game of the calendar year for the Clan, who opened 2014 with a split on the road last week.
It was a back and forth affair between the two teams as there were 14 lead changes and nine times the score was tied. The Clan continued to improve their shooting as they finished with a field goal percentage of 42.4 percent. As well, they continued their strong defensive showing holding the Crusaders to 35.5 percent from the field.
Trailing 15-9 early, the Clan began to battle back as senior
Kia Van Laare (New Westminster, BC) came off the bench and hit back-to-back three-pointers to tie the game at 17. Van Laare finished with 11 points and three rebounds on the night.
"Kia's never been afraid to shoot the ball," said Head Coach
Bruce Langford. "I thought early on we didn't shoot really good threes. Kia came in and hit a couple of three's that helped the rest of the team. It's a little different playing a team that plays zone for 40 minutes."
SFU would stretch their lead to 24-19, but Northwest Nazarene fought back to tie the game at 26. By the half, SFU would lead 38-34 following an
Erin Chambers (Mission, BC) jumper with three seconds left.
Chambers once again led the team in scoring, finishing with a game high 25 points, including an impressive 11-of-12 from the free throw line.
Coming out strong in the second half, SFU increased their lead 40-34, but the Clan would go cold and the Crusaders hot as NNU was able to take 56-48 lead.
This led to Langford calling a timeout trying to regroup his team.
"Playing our game," said Langford on what was discussed during the stoppage. "First of all we've been here before, we've been down several times. Second we need to get out composure back, let's get the momentum back."
Breaking from the timeout, the Clan went back to work as they chipped away playing strong defence and better shooting.
One player who dominated down low was senior
Rebecca Langmead (Torbay, NL) who ended with 15 points, 12 rebounds and five blocks for the double-double.
"Today she was crucial," Langford said of his centre. "She was big many, many times. It was nice to see, she's put in the time and she's worked hard."
Working underneath the basket, it was a very physical game according to Langmead, but it felt good to get the win over another ranked team.
"I think we came into this (season) knowing we would be good and a lot of people didn't expect us to be. It feels nice to beat teams that are ranked higher than us," continued Langmead.
Junior
Katie Lowen (Lethbridge, AB) also finished with double-digit points, totaling 11, while sophomore
Meg Wilson (London, ON) finished second on the team with 10 rebounds.
For Northwest Nazarene, Taylor Simmons led the team in scoring with 18 points, followed by Chelsie Luke who scored 14 points while adding 10 rebounds.
The win improves the Clan's record to 9-3 on the season, 3-1 in conference play.
SFU will take on Central Washington this Saturday at 7:00 p.m. in the West Gym.Â
"They're a team that has not won many games and they're a really good team that hasn't won many games," Langmead said. "They've come really close, so it's going to be really exciting for us to come in and play a team that really wants a win."
