Cardinals face road obstacles in final two weeks of season

Kyler Wooldridge- Staff Writer
2/10/12

Last week the William Jewell College men’s and women’s basketball teams engaged two conference foes at home, the Maryville University Saints and the University of Missouri-St. Louis Tritons.
The women’s team came into these games with an 11-6 mark overall and a 5-5 mark in Great Lakes Valley Conference play. The Lady Cardinals took on the Saints on Feb. 2, at the Mabee Center.
Jewell held a slight lead for most of the early part of the contest. Around the 13-minutes mark, however, Maryville took the lead, and for the rest of the first half the Saints put more and more distance between themselves and Jewell, with their biggest lead being 18 points. The score at halftime was 42-26, Maryville. The Lady Cardinals never regained the lead in the second half, although twice they were able to cut the deficit to only nine. That was the final margin of victory for the Saints as Jewell fell 61-52.
On Saturday afternoon the Lady Cardinals returned to their home court to take on the Tritons of UMSL. This was their second meeting against the Tritons this season, the first of which ended in a 59-43 Cardinals win. In the rematch, Jewell took the lead at around the 17-minute mark and held on to it for the rest of a very defensive first frame, hitting the locker room with a 29-21 lead. The Lady Cardinals went on a 7-2 run to start the second half without looking back, establishing a 15-point lead in about three minutes. Jewell would never surrender that lead on the way to a 62-54 win. Holly Switzer, junior, and Cassy Nicolay, sophomore, tied for the team lead in points with 14 each. Aerial Smith, first-year, also added 12 points on the night.
The men’s team entered its recent contests with a 6-11 overall mark and a 3-8 record in GLVC play. In their first matchup of the season the Saints defeated the Cardinals 67-52. This time, the Cardinals played excellent defense in the first half, holding Maryville to only 12 points as the Saints shot only 23 percent from the field. Jewell ran the table in the first half, establishing a 19-point lead with a minute remaining in the period.
The Cardinals continued to smash their way through the Saints’ defenses throughout the second half, establishing a 26-point lead with about six minutes left. The Cardinals’ lead never fell under 20 for the rest of the game, and they won 62-41. Nick Larson, senior, and Craig Mattson, junior, had double doubles for the night with 23 points and 17 rebounds and 13 points and 10 rebounds, respectively. Nate Kroeker, junior, led the team with five assists and two steals.
The Cardinals did not have such an easy road in their next game against UMSL. The Cardinals and Tritons played a close game in the first half, with UMSL leading the first quarter of the game and the Cardinals leading the second, with Jewell up 27-24 at the break.
Jewell went on a run at the beginning of the second half, eventually establishing a 17-point lead. However, the Tritons battled back, tying the game with 1:42 remaining on the clock. UMSL took the lead and emerged victorious, 67-62. The Cardinals turned the ball over eight more times than the Tritons in the contest. In the loss, Larson put up another big game for the Cardinals with 23 points and 19 rebounds. Chris Uz, senior, added 14 points of his own, 12 of which came from beyond the arc.