Women's Basketball Earns Crucial WHAC Victory at LTU

(Southfield, MI)-- The Cleary Cougar women's basketball team overcame an early deficit to pick up a playoff clinching victory Wednesday evening, as they took down the Lawrence Tech Blue Devils 64-58 in the Don Ridler Fieldhouse.

Cleary started the game off slowly as the Blue Devils built an early 9-3 lead.  Taedom Stein would hit a three, followed by a Caitlyn Rayl layup to cut the lead to one point.  A Mileisha Rodriguez layup would give the Cougars the lead for the first time since the score was 1-0, but LTU would retake the lead after a three of their own.  After a Samantha Hoelscher layup, the Blue Devils would score the quarter's final four points to lead 16-11 after the first ten minutes of play.

LTU's lead would grow to as many as eleven points not even four minutes into the second quarter, when Cleary found themselves trailing 24-13.  An Izzy Dugal three in the corner would kickstart the Cougar offense, which was further fueled by their defense, and the visitors cut into the Blue Devil lead.  Dugal would secure a defensive rebound and go coast to coast to make it an eight point game, and another fast break layup for Dugal would make it a six point game with four minutes remaining in the half.  A Mileisha Rodriguez tip-in cut the deficit to four points, but LTU scored one more basket before the half ended, sending Cleary into the break trailing 30-24.

The Cougars continued their strong play in the third quarter, with Amy Jackson hitting a three pointer, followed by a Samantha Hoelscher jumper.  Hoelscher would hit both free throws after a foul, and then converted a layup, making it a one point 33-34 game.  LTU would get two points, but Riley Merryfield knocked down a three in transition to tie the game at 36-36.  The two teams would trade baskets before Cleary started to gain some footing, when Amy Jackson hit both free throws followed by a Samantha Hoelscher layup, giving the Cougars a four point lead late in the quarter.  

An Amy Jackson three to start the fourth quarter extended the Cougars' lead to seven points, and the two teams once again traded baskets for the next six minutes of action.  With Cleary leading 55-51, LTU would hit a three to cut the Cougar lead to one point.  After the two teams exchanged free throw makes, Taedom Stein made a layup with 1:30 to play, making the score 59-56.  Cleary would get a stop, forcing LTU to foul, and putting Samantha Hoelscher at the line, who made one of two free throws, and making the score 60-56.  LTU would score another basket with 24 seconds to play.  After a Cougar timeout to advance the ball, Cleary turned the ball over.  The Cougars defense stood tall, and after forcing a miss, got the defensive rebound, once again sending Samantha Hoelscher to the line.  She would make one of two free throws, to make the score 61-58.  Cleary would force another turnover, and make the one more free throw to ice the game for the victory.

Cleary was led by both Samantha Hoelscher and Mileisha Rodriguez who each had a game high 16 points.  Rodriguez would have 5 rebounds, while Hoelscher had 4 rebounds and 2 steals.  Amy Jackson added 11 points and 3 rebounds.

The win gives the Cougars an 8-14 record, 7-8 in the WHAC, and secures the team a spot in the ten-team WHAC tournament later this month, as the current 11th, 12th, and 13th place teams cannot catch the Cougars in the standings.  Cleary will next be in action on Saturday, February 8, when they travel to Ann Arbor to take on the Concordia Cardinals in a WHAC battle at 1:00 PM.