Back to Back 100 Point Nights Give Lady Saints a Pair of Wins

The 19^th ranked Seward County Lady Saints continued their perfect start to the 2013-2014 season this weekend in Hutchinson, drilling Central Methodist 101-45 Friday before putting a beating on San Jacinto 105-64 on Saturday to move to 7-0 on the year. 

It was the first experience in the open air Hutchinson Sports Arena for half of the Lady Saints roster on Friday as they took on Central Methodist's JV squad in the Salt City. That didn't seem to matter much however as after the game was tied at 4 two minutes into the action, the Lady Saints went on a 19-0 run over the next  5:48 to blow the game open to 23-4 and they never looked back.  A pair of steals and run outs for Seward extended their lead to 27-6 and a three pointer from Janel Tammen made it 30-6 in favor of the Lady Saints.  Seward continued to press the tempo and remained on top big, 42-16 as the first half clock ticked under 7:00.  The Lady Saints took their first 30 point lead of the contest on a steal and score from Brianna Scott with 1:56 to go in the half to make it 54-23 and Seward cruised into the locker rooms at half on a 10-0 run to take a 60-23 lead at the break.  The Lady Saints connected on 52% of their shots in the first half to just 27% for the Eagles while the Lady Saints forced 13 Central Methodist turnovers, turning those into 23 points to grab the big lead at the half. 

It didn't get any better for Central Methodist in the second half as the Lady Saints stretched their lead to 72-28 when Shanise Brooks found a streaking Alana Simon with 16:37 to go in the game.   Seward went up by 50 on a pair of Simon free throws with 3:30 to go and the Lady Saints topped the century mark on a second chance opportunity cashed in by Scott with under a minute to go to come away with a 101-45 victory.  Seward again had no problem on the offensive end, shooting 54% while Central Methodist equaled their first half performance, hitting 27% from the field. 

It was another balanced attack offensively for Seward who saw six different players reach double figures in scoring and all eight players score at least 5 points and grab at least 4 rebounds in the win.  Brooks led Seward with 22 points while Scott filled up the stat sheet as she flirted with a quadruple double of 19 points, 8 assists, 7 rebounds, and 7 steals.  Korina Chapman netted a double double with 13 poitns and 12 rebounds while Alana Simon scored 18 and Kyndal Davis had 10 with 7 assists. 

#19 SEWARD COUNTY/CENTRAL METHODIST JV BOX SCORE

Things were bound to get much more difficult for the Lady Saints as they squared off against San Jacinto-North in a 1:30 tip Saturday afternoon in the Arena.  The Lady Saints got off to a quick start on the offensive end, but the Gators did as well as the two teams found themselves tied at 10 three minutes into the action.  Seward picked things up on the defensive end, going on a 12-2 run over the next 2:46 to take their first sizable lead of the game at 22-12, much of it coming from Shanise Brooks who scored 7 points during the stretch.  The Lady Saints maintained a double digit lead to the midway point of the half with the score 30-20, but San Jac showed some fight, cutting the Seward lead to just two at 32-30 at the 5:37 mark of the half.  Later on in the period, Seward stretched their lead back out to 10 with under 3:00 remaining in the half, but the Gators hit a three pointer in the closing seconds of the half and the Lady Saints went to the break leading just 47-41.  Despite the big offensive numbers for both teams in the period, the stats indicated more of a sloppy half rather than a high powered shootout.  Seward shot just 30% from the field while San Jac was even worse at 27%.  The Lady Saints turned the ball over 13 times, leading to 18 Gator points while San Jacinto handed it over to Seward 16 times for 14 points. 

A series of halftime adjustments for the Lady Saints worked out just as designed as the second half began.  Seward stormed out of the locker rooms on a 6-0 run to open up a 53-41 lead and ended up turning that run into one of 29-5 to start the half to blow the game open to 76-46 with under 12:00 remaining.  Seward continued to get production from every combination of players that were put onto the court and went up by 40 and hit the 100 point mark after four straight free throws from Simon to put them up 100-60 with 2:47 left.  Back to back hoops from Fabiana Monte and Simon gave the Lady Saints their largest lead of the game at 43 and Seward went on to win 105-64 over the Gators.  San Jac had no answers for the potent Seward attack in the second half as the Lady Saints shot a sweltering 73% from the field while they remained ice cold at just 23% in the period. 

Once again Seward had six players get into double digits in scoring, led by Scott who finished with a game high 27 points on 13 of 19 shooting.  Davis had her best game of her young Seward career, scoring 19 points and pulling down 13 rebounds in a double double.  Brooks finished with 13 points and 8 rebounds, Simon and Monte combined for 21 points and 10 assists, and Tammen had a career high in both points and rebounds with 11 and 8. 

The 100 points in back to back games marks the first time a Seward team has done that since December 30, 2006 and January 3, 2007 when they did so against College of the Desert and Dodge City. 

#19 SEWARD COUNTY/SAN JACINTO-NORTH BOX SCORE

The Lady Saints remain unbeaten at 7-0 while San Jacinto falls to 1-6 on the year.  Seward will hit the court again Friday to take on the high flying attack of Lamar at 1:30 in Garden City followed by a date with New Mexico JC on Saturday in another 1:30 matinee affair in the Perryman Center.