MLC's defense sparks offense, too

By JEN SEAVEY

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- An intensified full court defense producing a record number of steals helped the Martin Luther College women jump from a seven point lead in the first half to a 79-42 victory over North Central College.

The Knights' biggest lead in the first half came at the end, but before that, it was a tight game. MLC even fell behind three times, if not for long.

"They played us pretty tough in the first half -- they played pretty good defense," said MLC coach Gene Pfeifer. "They're good shooters. We tried to get a hand up on all their shooters, but sometimes, even guarded, they were making some shots."

Erin Czer scored right off of the tip-off, and North Central came back with a three pointer from Angie Frisbie, to put them in the lead. But Czer took the ball again, and made a long jumper.

Halfway through the half, the Knights used their half court trap to force a jump ball. The women didn't get possession, but their full-court press was starting to work.

MLC kept the lead until Kati Shea made a three-pointer for the Rams, but after a bad pass by North Central, Annie Uecker grabbed a rebound off the fast break and took back the lead.

After the Rams took it back one more time, Ruth Servais made an inside shot off of another fast break. A run of baskets at the end brought MLC to the halftime lead, 30-23.

According to Pfeifer, the MLC women had a rough time with their full court defense early in the game. The Rams would pass the ball once, and then the Knights would fall back.

"We wanted to play a full court game," said Pfeifer. "That was our goal in the first half too, but we didn't put it on all that well. We talked about it at halftime, made some adjustments, and the second half the girls really stuck with it."

With the improved defense, other things also fell into line for the Knights.

"We were really happy with our defense," said Pfeifer. "Our defense really triggered our offense."

The tougher full court defense led to more steals and more points off the break. The women ended the game with 30 steals -- beating their previous record of 28. Bauer had seven of those steals, along with eight assists. Emma Babinec had five steals.

Czer had four steals, and was the lead scorer with 14, making six for seven from the floor.

The MLC women made 49 points off of North Central turnovers in the game.

"There are a lot of little things that went on that contributed to the success," said Pfeifer. "These are very telling statistics."

In the first half, the women shot only 29 percent from the floor, and 46 from the free throw line. In the second half, they improved to 51 percent from the floor and 61 at the line.

MLC also did much better on turnovers in the second half. The women had 15 turnovers in the first half, and ended the game with just six more. The Knights forced 41 North Central turnovers, which Pfeifer thought might be another record.

"We were trying to push the ball up the court, and that causes a fair number of turnovers," said Pfeifer. "But we got a lot of good shots. The second half, we did a better job of hitting our shots too."

The Knights held the Rams to only three points, scored off of a foul, until over halfway through the period. The MLC score shot up from 32 to 57 in the same amount of time. The women picked up their pace and intensity, and were able to take a solid lead. In just the first few minutes of the half, steals by Czer, Uecker, and three from Bauer led to an 11 point jump in the Knight's score. After that, the Rams didn't come close to catching up again.

"I thought this would be a good judge of how our conference season might go," said Pfeifer. North Central played Presentation Friday night, and only lost by three. "They have struggled against some of the top teams in the league, so this is probably pretty comparable to how the rest of the league will look."

The MLC women are now 1-0 in the conference and 3-2 overall. They play at the University of Wisconsin-Stout at 7 p.m. on Monday.