The Griffon News

With extreme defensive pressure in the second half, the Griffons allowed no. 1 MIAA ranked Southwest Baptist to throw their focus off and come away with a road victory at home in the MWSU Fieldhouse, 82-72.

Coming off a string of losses, the Griffons, (9-11 overall and 4-8 in the MIAA) kept the game fairly close in the first half, going into halftime leading 48-42. But from the onset of the second half, Southwest Baptist, (16-4 overall and 8-3 in the MIAA) came out in a full court press that stifled the Griffons.

The Griffons looked comfortable in their inside game, although they struggled to keep control of the ball on the outside. Head Coach Lynn Plett feels the defensive pressure caused bad decision-making.

“Turnovers cost us the difference in the game. The way we turned the ball over ended up being really easy baskets for Southwest Baptist,” Plett said.

Southwest Baptist forced 22 turnovers in the game and scored 26 points off those turnovers.

“We ended up not aggressively attacking the basket when we did get it over the top of their defense,” Plett said. 
The Southwest Baptist defense was even a challenge for the seasoned veteran and senior, Yanique Javois, who had 14 points on the evening.

“It killed the momentum for us and gave them the momentum. We did not handle it well, we were not very intelligent in handling the press,” Javois said. 

Senior point guard Chemia Woods, who finished the game with 10 points, was double and triple teamed much of the second half and also had trouble breaking the press.

 ”It slowed us down and took us out of our game,” Woods said. 

Jill Johnson led the team in scoring with 23 points, followed by 19 points by freshman Tierra Ford.

There is a silver lining to Wednesday night’s loss, experience. The young Griffons’ team will improve, no doubt, with the senior leadership setting the example. As long as the team continues to employ their solid work ethic, they should be in good shape heading into the MIAA tournament in March. 

The Griffons’ also lost on  Saturday,against the Emporia State Hornets, the  Hornets were ranked number 16 in division II. Javois led the Griffons in scoring in the contest.  The Griffons will be back in action Wednesday as they travel to face Pittsburg State.