Women's Hoops Snaps Skid With Rout of Kalamazoo
Dec 29, 2018
SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - The University of Dubuque women’s basketball team snapped their ten game losing streak after cruising 87-53 win over Kalamazoo in the consolation game of the Charles B. Zimmerman Memorial Tournament. UD's Abigail Zurcher was named to the All-Tournament Team for her efforts.
It was a back and forth battle for the opening seven and a half minutes as the score was even at 12 all with 2:34 remaining in the opening frame and then the Spartans made their run. UD closed the final two minutes of the first quarter on an 8-1 run to take a 20-13 lead into the second quarter.
That UD momentum carried over from the first quarter, scoring the first 13 points of the second quarter to push their lead to 20 with 4:31 left before half. Kalamazoo found a little offense over the last minutes of the first half but still could not stop the Spartans and UD went into the locker room with a 41-23 lead.
The closest the Hornets would ever get again was 16 at the midway point of the third quarter and then the Spartans put an exclamation point on the victory by holding Kalamazoo scoreless for the opening 5:20 of the fourth quarter while pushing their lead up to 32 points.
UD dominated in every facet of the game on Saturday afternoon including stifling the Kalamzoo offense, holding them to just 17 of 69 (24.6%) shooting from the field. On the offensive end for UD, the Spartans shot a blistering 47.9% (35-73), including 52.4% (11-21) from three.
The UD bench would outscore the Kalamazoo bench by a staggering 38-6 margin and the Spartans also dominated in the paint with 36 points in the paint compared to the Hornets 12.
For the second straight game at the Charles B. Zimmerman Memorial Tournament, Abigail Zurcher and Lexi Daniels led the Spartans in scoring. Zurcher finished with 15 and Daniels had 14, both going 4-7 from beyond the arc. Josie Thomas and Amari Sims joined Zurcher and Daniels in double figures with 13 and 10 respectively. Miah Smith continues to be a force on the glass, grabbing 10 rebounds against the Hornets to give her 25 in her last two games.
The Spartans hop back in American Rivers Conference play to start the new year on Wednesday when they travel to Pella, Iowa to take on Central College.
