CU Thinks Pink, Beats Ohio Valley

The Lady Jackets defeated Ohio Valley Saturday afternoon, 62-48, and wore pink uniforms to support breast cancer awareness.

It was a struggle early on for both teams offensively. It took nearly four minutes for the Jackets to score the first basket of the game. The Jackets were only up 11-4 after the end of the first quarter.

Things started to pick up in the second quarter. The Jackets went into halftime with a 28-19 lead. Junior forward Christina McQueen provided a spark off the bench for the Jackets with seven points, and the Jackets defense also forced 13 first half turnovers.

The Jackets began the third quarter with a 12-4 run, with eight of those points coming from senior forward Kayla Linkous. The Jackets were able to close the quarter with a 46-34 lead.

The Jackets turned the ball over on three consecutive possessions late in the fourth quarter. Ohio Valley was able to capitalize on all of them, but by then the game was out of reach.

Head coach Kirk Martin said his team has not played well on offense recently.

“The one thing we are consistent with is our inconsistency offensively,” Martin said. “We seem to struggle to score points or they flow through us pretty easily.”

Linkous led the Jackets with 17 points. McQueen finished the game with 11 points and seven rebounds, and sophomore center Breanne Watterworth added six points and 10 rebounds.

“I thought Bre was very impressive, especially in the fourth quarter as far as being a defensive presence,” Martin said. “We need that out of her. I thought she did a great job with that.”

Cedarville shot 46 percent from the field while limiting Ohio Valley to 29 percent. But perhaps the most impressive stat from the Jackets was that they assisted on 21 of their 26 field goals.

“I’m proud of that,” Martin said. “We have worked on ball reversal and maybe rethinking the quickness of our shots. I will take the 21 assists and be very proud of that.”

The Jackets are now 19-6 and 10-1 in the G-MAC. They will play their next game at home Saturday, February 20, at 5:30 p.m. against conference opponent Ursuline, who is currently second in the G-MAC. Martin said he would love to see a big crowd show up for that game.

“A team sport can be really fun especially when your school jumps in with you,” he said. “We need our students there, and we need them to be loud. There is a great opportunity to make some noise and make it an enjoyable environment filled with the student body being loud.”

Linkous agreed that they could use support for this game.

“We are really hoping for a big crowd to cheer us on during our game (Feb. 20),” Linkous said. “Ursuline is always a tough team to play against. We need all the support we can get.”

Josh Burris is a junior journalism major and multimedia person for Cedars. He is interested in sports broadcasting and reporting. He enjoys watching sports, lifting, and listening to rock and rap music.