MWSU Women’s Basketball vs Washburn
February 7th 2022
Missouri Western beat Washburn 67–44 to improve to 20–5 overall on the season. This second win in a row comes after a two game losing skid on the road. This victory was fueled by a monster performance from sophomore guard Connie Clarke.
Despite the Griffons’ double digit win over the Ichabods, this was a close game in the first half.
Missouri Western found themselves offensively about midway into the first. This spark came from players such as freshman guard Alyssa Bonilla. Her performance helped the Griffons stay in tempo in the first half.
“I was really happy to see Alyssa bounce back because she’s had a really rough go. February is really hard, plus really hard for freshmen. To see her play like we know she’s capable of and make shots, should be huge for her confidence” said head coach Candi Whitaker.
That was the case for Bonilla as she ended the night with 8 points and 3 rebounds. Plays from her such as a fastbreak lay-up in the paint shortly before the end first and also two 3-pointers in the second quarter helped Missouri Western pull away from Washburn.
The first quarter is also where we saw game leader Clarke start her solid performance. Clarke led the Griffons with a double double of 20 points and 17 rebounds. This was her second straight 20-point game, previously scoring 20 points against Emporia State on February 15th. Her 17 rebounds against the Ichabods in this game tallied her new season high.
During the second quarter we saw graduate guard Jaelyn Haggard give her team some juice.
“Threes are important, not only just scoring wise. On a team like that when they give us the opportunity to get three’s, we just have to take advantage.” said Haggard.
She nailed a 3-pointer on a fast break with around 5 minutes to go in the second to push their lead to 10. Haggard ended her night with 9 points coming from three made 3-pointers.
Missouri Western put this one away early in the fourth quarter as Clarke continued her career night.
This team seems to be back mentally as of Thursday night.
“We learned a lot from our mistakes from this last game. We watched film and learned what we did wrong.” said Clarke.
Despite the Griffons low points this year, this team is proving they’re better than last season’s 6–16 record.
“Last year was a grind. They kept saying keep coming, keep coming. We will get better and we’ll keep working. At the end of the season there was a little hope. We were a little down and playing like we are this year and getting twenty wins is a big accomplishment,” said J freshman forward Jordan Cunningham.
As of press time the Griffons sit at no. 3 in the MIAA with a 14–5 record. Also falling out of the national rankings they hope to improve in their last home game of the season against Emporia State on saturday night.
