MW WOMENS BASKETBALL: Lady Jays rout Beavers

WORTHINGTON - With three players racking up 21 or more points, the Minnesota West Lady Jays dominated the Buena Vista Beaver's JV squad 99-49 Tuesday night.

“I was just shooting the ball and it just happened to be going in,” said MW forward Lindsey Drooger, who dropped 27 points against Buena Vista. “It was just luck I think.”

Minnesota West not only dominated in total scoring, but it also outscored BV 22-3 at the foul-line and 27-6 from behind the arc.

“I think we did the things we were supposed to do against them,” MW coach Mike Fury said. “That is what you want to do against a team like that and we were able to play our game for 40 minutes. That was the important thing.”

The Lady Jays jumped out to an 8-0 lead early in the first half on a putback by Katey Granstra and back-to-back 3-pointers by Drooger and Brittany Hulstein.

“We shot really well tonight, both 3s and 2s,” Fury said. “That was fun to see. And we were able to run our pattern the way we should on offense.”

BV got on the board after Jasmyn Flynn-Graves made two free throws, but MW continued to pile on the points. The Lady Jays took a 21-8 lead before a six-foot jumper by Flynn-Graves finally putthe Beavers into double-digits with a little more than 10 minutes left in the half.

“We always talk about playing defense, getting on the boards and hustling and that is what we did,” Fury said. “It was fun to see the girls do that the whole game.”

The Lady Jays increased their lead to 28 points on a layup from Hulstein with 3:38 remaining in the half to go up 45-17. A six-foot jumper by BV’s Alicia Savoy 21-seconds later put a stop to a 13-point run by MW.

“We were able to look inside and then we hit some huge 3s that got us off to such a good start,” Fury said. “We hit two 3s early, got the lead and then down the stretch in the first half, we really pulled away.

“We had some steals, some great looks inside and we kept shooting well.”

During the run, Drooger scored 10 of her 27 points on four straight shots to help the Lady Jays pull away from the Beavers for good.

“It was a good night for everybody,” Fury said. “We were able to give everybody some good minutes out there.”

At the half, Minnesota West led Buena Vista 51-23 with Hulstein and Drooger leading the Lady Jays in scoring with 16 points apiece.

The second half started with MW using an 11-2 run against the Beavers to extend its lead to 38. And even though the Lady Jays had their way on the offensive side of the ball in the second half, they were also able to continue to stifle the Buena Vista’ offense.

“Our defense was the main part of why we didn’t let up in the second (half),” Drooger said. “We played really great defense tonight and we held them to 49 points.”

With a little more than 10 minutes left, MW took a 78-30 lead after Granstra completed an old-fashioned 3-point play by sinking bucket and a free-throw.

With the win, the Lady Jays improved to 2-3 this season and will face Dakota Wesleyan’s JV team in a doubleheader with the men’s team at 6 p.m. Tuesday.

“Now we know that, as a team, we can beat teams,” Drooger said. “We have been in a slump for a while after a few losses, but now we know that we can play hard and play as a team. Hopefully, we can come back from (Thanksgiving) break and get a few more wins before Christmas.”

Daily Globe Reporter Jordan Willi may be reached at 376-7335.

MINNESOTA WEST 99, BUENA VISTA JV 49

BUENA VISTA JV: Reimers 4 1-4 10, Ollendieck 7 0-1 15, Moreno 2 0-2 4, McDermott 1 0-0 2, Seda 0 0-0 0, Flynn-Graves 4 2-4 10, Savoy 4 0-1 8. TOTALS: 22 3-12 49.

MINNESOTA WEST (2-3): Hermeling 1 0-0 3, Rasche 0 0-0 0, Eichenberger 2 0-2 4, Kazemba 1 1-2 3, Gehl 8 4-6 21, Hulstein 7 8-9 25, Drooger 10 3-5 27, Granstra 5 6-7 16. TOTALS: 34 22-31 99.

Halftime: Minnesota West 51, Buena Vista JV 23. 3-Point Goals: Buena Vista JV (Reimers, Ollendieck); Minnesota West (Drooger 4, Hulstein 3, Gehl); Total Fouls (Fouled Out): Buena Vista JV 21 (Seda); Minnesota West 16 (none). Technical Fouls: None.

Tags: minnesota west sports, sports, basketball, womens