The Sugar Bears basketball team pulled out a victory over the Ecclesia Royals in a 90-36 win Friday through their defensive playing.
“I think we have to have some good things happen for us off the bench,” coach Matt Daniel said. “But we actually have to play better, especially on the defensive end. We scored 90 points and not much offense because of the way they were playing. Some of them were lay-ups.”
Daniel continued saying that the team got good footage.
“We have to go back and review that film and learn from it and then go out and try to get better,” Daniel said.
The Sugar Bears scored a total of 56 points off the bench. Along with that, they had 45 rebounds – 17 on offense and 28 on defense. They also had 17 steals.
Out of the total points, the top contributors for the Sugar Bears were junior forward Westin Taylor, scoring 19 points consisting of five of nine two-point field goals and three of seven three-point field goals, senior guard Marci Moffitt with three of six two-point field goals and three of five three-point field goals and junior forward, and Megan Herbert with six of 10 two-point field goals and shooting 100 percent of her five free throws.
As a team total, the Sugar Bears scored 35 out of 68 two-point field goals, eight out of 24 three-point field goals and 12 of 23 free throws.
“I don’t think we did very well,” Daniel said. “That’s a little over 50% and that’s not what we’re looking for.”
Junior guard Micah Rice added that in order for them to improve on the free throws, they have to keep shooting them in practice, working on them and just getting in the gym on their spare time.
The first half began with the Sugar Bears winning the tipoff. Senior guard Nakeia Guiden got the team off to a start with a two-pointer. That led to an early 5-0 lead for the Sugar Bears. The score at zero was the only time in the game where the score was tied. The Sugar Bears maintained the lead for the remainder of the game.
Going almost eight minutes in the first half, the Royals managed to score their second goal after a Sugar Bears 10-point rally, making the score 15-4.
After two back-to-back three pointers from Taylor, Herbert followed up by netting two free throws with 2.1 seconds on the clock.
The first half ended with the Sugar Bears leading 48-13.
Almost two minutes into the second half, Rice scored the first points for the Sugar Bears off of a Royals possession.
Around the three-minute mark, the Sugar Bears chopped up a 10-point rally to end the game at 90-36.
Rice said the game was just another good win for the team, but they are continuing trying to grow as a team. She added that she thinks a key factor of the game was the defense turning into easy offense for them.
“When we actually instituted our assists, they turned in to easy buckets,” Rice said.
Daniel said as the team continues mature and grow.
“Maybe we can just go get better every night out,” Daniel said. “Now we just have to get focused on Central Baptist College.”
