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St. Cloud State University
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SCSU earns second place in Arizona
Women’s basketball team splits pair of games at the Grand Canyon Classic in Phoenix.
By Drew Herron
Published:
Thursday, December 5, 2002
After another split, the SCSU women’s basketball team will head into this weekend’s Southwest State Hardee’s/Coca Cola Classic tournament in Marshall with an opportunity to build momentum and creep over the .500 mark.
SCSU has just returned from competing in the Grand Canyon Classic in Phoenix, Ariz. The Huskies took the court last Friday afternoon and struggled early before beating Grand Canyon University. They were narrowly defeated Saturday by Seattle University, 68-67.
Katie Huschle led the Huskies against Grand Canyon, scoring 18 points, while going a perfect three-for-three from downtown and seven-for-nine from the foul line.
“She played extremely well,” head coach Lori Ulferts said of Huschle. “She came off the bench and drove the ball extremely well. That’s something that we needed against them because they were covering us pretty well on the outside.”
Jonelle Streed also came up huge, scoring 13. Lynnea Salscheider added nine points and Jessica Abrahams and Kris DeGroot each contributed eight.
St. Cloud found themselves trailing 35-20 at the half after shooting a dismal 25 percent, but a dramatic turnaround in the second helped the Huskies come back and put away GCU. The Huskies poured in 47 points in the second, while limiting GCU to just 20 points in the second half on their way to the 67-55 victory.
“We played really good defense in the second half,” Ulferts said. “We pressed really well, switched our defense from zone to man and got easy baskets.”
The Huskies were solid inside, scoring 24 of their points in the paint compared to GCU’s six. The Huskies ability to take care of the ball proved to be crucial as they scored 21 points off of turnovers.
Once again, the Huskies bench production was impressive, as the reserves combined to contribute 36 points.
“Our bench is very powerful,” Ulferts said. “That’s our strength, we’re deep. It’s very difficult to pick five starters.”
Things looked promising Saturday as the Huskies took a 38-27 lead into the half against Seattle. However, this time it would be St. Cloud coming up just short in a extremely tight game that saw 12 lead changes. Seattle outscored St. Cloud 42-30 in the second half to edge the Huskies 69-68.
Jonelle Streed turned in another solid performance, scoring 13. Jessica Abrahams led the Huskies with 18 points, going five-of-five from the free throw line. The Huskies shot 63 percent in the first half before coming back to earth in the second, when they shot 43 percent.
“They had some players that just didn’t miss,” Ulferts said. “Their players played outstanding in the second half. We, on the other hand, didn’t continue to keep up with our aggressiveness. We let some questionable calls affect us.”
The Huskies’ focus now turns to this weekend’s tournament in Marshall, where the Huskies will open up against host Southwest State.
“It’s their tournament and we’ll play before their men’s game,” Ulferts said. “So it will be a packed house and a great atmosphere.”
This will not be an easy game for St. Cloud as SWSU is extremely solid and returns four starters from their conference championship team of a year ago.
The Mustangs have enjoyed three consecutive 20-win seasons and were ranked 20th in the ESPN/USA Today preseason poll. Coming off a 24-8 season, head coach Kelly Kruger and his team are looking to prove they can get past the Sweet 16, after making it there for the first time in the school’s history last year.
“They’re going to be a lot like Seattle,” Ulferts said. “In-your-face defense, really, really aggressive and they match up well. But they’re not a real tall team.”
The Mustangs are off to a 4-2 start this season and are led by returning NSIC Defensive Player of the year, senior wing Shelli Schoeneck (15.4 points per game).
The Huskies will square off against Wayne State College Saturday. The Wildcats return seven letter winners from a team that finished 12-15 and fifth in the NSIC last season.
“They’re much improved from last year,” Ulferts said. “We know they’ll be fast and up-tempo, and they’re not afraid to shoot.”
