Women's Basketball Uses Balance to Power Dominant Win Over Crusaders

(Lansing, MI)-- The Cleary Cougar women's basketball team started Friday evening's game on a 18-4 run, and never looked back, as they dominated the visiting Great Lakes Christian College Crusaders at Gannon Gymnasium.

Izzy Dugal started the game with an layup and converted the and-one, followed by a Samantha Hoelscher layup to give the Cougars an early 5-0 lead.  GLCC would convert on a layup, but the Cougars responded by scoring the next nine points to open up a 14-2 lead.  The two teams would trade some baskets, but a Makenna Jarratt three pointer with just under a minute to playin the opening quarter gave the Cougars a 16-point advantage.  After getting a stop in the final seconds, Samantha Hoelscher converted on a layup, and Cleary led 25-7 after ten minutes of action.

Jess Andrew extended the lead on the Cougars' opening possession of the second quarter to give Cleary a twenty point lead.  The lead would hover around that margin for the rest of the second quarter, and after GLCC hit a three with just under a minute to play in the half, their deficit would shrink to 42-25, which would be the score at halftime.

Cleary quickly started the third quarter on a run, and rebuilt their twenty point lead when Melanin Holman connected from behind the arc to open the half.  Samantha Hoelscher would hit on a jumper to make it a twenty point lead once again.  Caitlyn Rayl would hit a pair of free throws, and then knocked down a three moments later to expand the Cougar lead to twenty-five points.  Samantha Hoelscher would grab a defensive rebound and go coast-to coast with an and-one to make it 59-31 with 3:32 to play in the third quarter.  An Izzy Dugal layup with 0:20 to play in the quarter would expand Cleary's lead to 30 points, but the Crusaders hit a three on their final possession to make it 65-38 with ten minutes to play.

The Cougars would continue to play stifling defense down the stretch, rotated players at the right time, and grew their lead even further.  Karissa Cochran would hit a pair of threes in the fourth quarter, and every player that played scored in the final ten minutes, as Cleary outscored GLCC 28-11 to earn the 93-49 victory.

Samantha Hoelscher led the Cougars with 25 points, 18 rebounds, 6 steals, and 4 assists in the game.  Izzy Dugal also had a double-double with 20 points, 13 rebounds, 3 steals, and 2 blocks.  Melanin Holman added 12 points and 4 assists in her first career start.  Caitlyn Rayl also had 12 points to go with 5 rebounds off the bench.  All nine Cougars that played scored in the game.

The 93 points scored by Cleary is a new program record, topping the previous best of 83 points scored in last season's 87-83 game against Saint Xavier.

Cleary improves to 1-2 on the season, and will have a week off before returning to Gannon Gymnasium to take on the Grace College Lancers.  That game is scheduled to begin at 1:00 PM.