The Lawrence Women’s Basketball team returned home for their final nonconference game of the season when they took on the Maranatha Baptist University Sabercats. The Vikings were looking for their first win of the season after losing their previous two games in very close contests.
From the start, it was clear that the Sabercats wanted to play a slower game and give the ball to their post players. The teams went back and forth for most of the first half with neither team able to gain control of the game. Lawrence struggled shooting at the start as they hit only three of their first 18 shots of the game and trailed 14-9 with about seven minutes left in the first half.
The Vikings started to heat up from the floor and then led 18-16 with just under five minutes left in the first half. The Vikings then put a full court pressure on the Sabercats. The Vikings’ pressure forced the Sabercats into several turnovers and they seized momentum before the half by going on a 14-6 run and stretched their lead to 32-24 at halftime. Lawrence hit nine of their final 12 shots in the half.
The Vikings continued their hot streak in the second half and put more pressure on Maranatha Baptist. They took complete control of the game by starting the half on a 9-2 run and held a 41-27 lead with just under 15 minutes left in the game. Maranatha could not stop them from there. A three-pointer from freshman Fanita Robins started another big run for Lawrence, this one 10-1, as they stretched the lead to 57-34 with six minutes left in the game. That lead would stretch to 34 points as the Vikings won the game by a final score of 73-39.
The pressure was key to the Vikings defense as they held the Sabercats to just 15 points in the second half and forced them into 36 total turnovers. Junior forward Patsy Kealey set the tone on defense and had a season high seven steals in the game.
On the offensive side, the Vikings took care of the ball and used good ball movement to get everybody involved as they assisted on 21 of their 28 field goals and had seven players score five or more points in the game. Junior Andrea Wilkinson paced the offense and finished with 14 points and freshman Danelle Buck scored 13.
The young Vikings will look to build off this win as they have just two games left in the season. They travelled to Carroll College on Wednesday, Feb. 18, and they will return home to finish the season when they play Monmouth on Saturday, Feb. 21 at 1 p.m.