The Baker University women’s basketball team suffered its first loss of the season last weekend in the final game of the Baker Classic.
After an exciting comeback win against Sterling College in the first tournament game, the ‘Cats fell to Columbia College 65-38, totaling their overall record to 2-1.
Head coach Susan Decker said the team played much better against Sterling than against Columbia, and the inability to make shots was a major factor in the team’s first loss to the Cougars.
“Overall, I thought we did some good things, and we played two pretty quality teams,” Decker said.
After several lead changes at the beginning of the game against Columbia, the ‘Cats trailed 31-23 at the half. The second half was different story for both teams, as the Cougars heated up and the ‘Cats cooled down. Baker hit a scoring drought, scoring just 15 points total in the second half and shooting 21 percent from the field. On the other side, the Cougars shot 46 percent in the game and put up 34 second-half points.
“Nothing was falling for us, and when you get on a track like that it’s just hard to get stuff to go right for you,” sophomore Josey McDiffett said.
Sophomore Audrey Bryant came off the bench to lead the ‘Cats with eight points. Bryant said one of Baker’s problems was being outsized by Columbia, which entered the game raked No. 20 in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics.
“We kept giving our best, and against Columbia, it just didn’t go our way big time, and our shots weren’t falling,” Bryant said.
On a positive note, the Wildcats were able to pull from behind in the last minutes of the contest against Sterling College, after being down by 10 point at times in the second half.
“We fought back and our intensity, togetherness and hustle were really good that whole game and us sticking together was something I was really pleased with,” Decker said.
Bryant chipped in 11 points to lead the team and was a perfect 4-for-4 from the field. Freshman Gloria Atanmo grabbed 10 boards to lead the team.
The Wildcats face their first road test in the Benedictine tournament at 5:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday against Park and Ottawa universities in Atchison.