Freshman point guard, Olivia Cunningham shooting against an Alabama A&M Bulldog point guard.
The women’s basketball team recorded triple-digit wins in the last two games despite its open season loss.
The Racers began their season with a hard loss against the Ohio Bobcats Nov. 14, 111-61. This 50-point loss proved to be a wake-up call to players to make some adjustments for the next games.
“I give a lot of credit to Ohio,” said Head Coach Rob Cross. “They did an outstanding job with 19 3’s in a game last year we knew they were going to be good coming back. We haven’t been very good in transition defense and matching up with people.”
Cross said the team’s two biggest problems were making shots and not attempting the extra pass.
With their first loss behind them, the Racers went on to play Alabama A&M, a Division II school, Sunday and scored their first triple-digit win since December 2006, according to Goracers.com. This time the Racers made the extra passes, and it worked.
“After the last game all we heard in practice was to make the extra pass,” said freshman forward and guard, Ke’Shunan James. “We had more focus and extra energy.”
The Racers took a 16-point lead, 24-8, in the first seven minutes. They went into halftime with a 42-32 advantage over Alabama A&M.
“We knew they were going to fight,” Cross said. “Their coach came from a great school and we knew they were going to play with just as much fight. I was really impressed with how they flipped it around and played with the confidence with transition defense.”
This win gave them the momentum they needed to win their game Tuesday against Blackburn College at the CFSB Center.
Their game against Blackburn, a Division III school from Carlinville, Ill. began with an administrative technical foul due to lack of jerseys for the Beavers.
For the second game in a row, the Racers earned a triple-digit win by dominating the game 110-31 against the Beavers. This is the first time in program history that the Racers have scored back-to-back triple-digit games.
The Racers had a 21-point advantage before the Beavers managed to make a two-point shot. By the end of the first half the Racers were up by 43 points.
“Going into the game we knew it was going to be fun,” James said.
With almost five minutes left in the game, the Racers were one point from hitting the 100-point mark. The team struggled to make the point by forcing shots.
Cross said they were once again quick to forget about throwing the extra pass.
He said there were new players playing to gauge how well they worked with the veteran players.
Everyone on the team racked up at least one rebound during the game, and all players with the exception of sophomore point guard LeAsia Wright added a point to the score.
Cross said Wright, who scored 18 points the previous game against Alabama A&M, graciously stepped back to allow other players to step in and make shots.
“I am very grateful that Blackburn came to play,” Cross said. “They came and played hard the entire game despite the fact they were behind. This game gave us several opportunities to try out offense plays and play against opponents and not each other.”
The next home game is against the Lipscomb University Bisons at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 25. The Racers will then go on to the Cardinal Classic in Muncie, Ind., Nov. 29-30.
Story by Kelsey Randolph, Assistant Sports Editor