DES MOINES — Southwestern saw another halftime lead slip away, as the Spartan women fell in yet another close game with Grand View’s JV team here Tuesday.
After falling behind early, 7-2, Southwestern head coach Addae Houston called a timeout. That seemed to settle his team down, as the Spartans got into a groove on offense.
“We were attacking the basket, getting to the free throw line and getting easy points there,” he said. “It kind of became a see-saw battle in the first half, with the score going back and forth.”
Southwestern took a 35-32 lead into the halftime break.
With just five minutes left in the game, Southwestern had built a seven-point lead over the Vikings’ JV team.
“We struggled to score,” Houston said about the final five minutes. “We became a little impatient in managing the clock. We took some ill-advised shots that gave them the opportunity to score when we had the lead. It came down to that in the end and they hit two 3-pointers to tie the game with close to a minute remaining.”
Southwestern had a shot to take the lead, but missed. Grand View responded by knocking down another 3-pointer. In total, the Vikings sank 13 3-pointers in the game.
“We definitely struggled to match up at times and defend shooters,” Houston said. “That’s where we lost the game.”
Southwestern hit a bucket with just seconds remaining in the game, closing the score to 66-64, but Grand View added another basket that was counted by the officials despite seemingly happening after the final buzzer sounded.
Peyton Russell led the Spartans with 13 points, four assists and three steals. Jazzlyn Wimbush contributed 11 points with six rebounds. Olivia Reifert chipped in six points with a team-high 10 boards. Jill Vanderhoof and Cambry Schluter each netted eight points.
The Spartans had suffered a 66-64 home defeat to the Grand View JV team on Nov. 1.
“Not matching up, giving them easy looks for three,” Houston said. “We didn’t do that well in the first game. That’s something we’ve been bad at in all of our games. It’s something I look at and we’re trying to work on it. There’s some things right now just not clicking in what we want defensively and that’s causing the problems we’re having right now. We’ll work on some things to try to correct our mistakes and keep plugging away.”
Southwestern, now 0-6 for the season, returns to action Saturday at Southeast Nebraska in Beatrice, Neb.
GRAND VIEW JV (68)
SOUTHWESTERN (64) — Peyton Russell 5 2-2 13, Jazzlyn Wimbush 3 5-5 11, Cambry Schluter 2 2-2 8, Jill Vanderhoof 3 0-3 8, Olivia Reifert 2 2-2 6, Sa’Lisa Bruce 1 2-2 4, Sabrina Fountain 2 0-0 4, LaStella Slack 2 0-0 4, Jordan Williamson 1 0-0 3, Brinee Stewart 1 0-0 2, Na Keyia Harris 0 1-2 1. Totals — 22 14-18 64. FG shooting — 22-63 (35 percent). 3-point goals — 6 (Schluter 2, Vanderhoof 2, Williamson 1, Russell 1). Rebounds — 38 (Reifert 10, Wimbush 6, Vanderhoof 4, Bruce 3, Fountain 3, Russell 3, Harris 2, Schluter 2). Assists — 13 (Russell 4, Wimbush 3, Reifert 2). Steals — 6 (Russell 3). Blocked shots — 3 (Harris 1, Slack 1, Wimbush 1). Turnovers — 12. Team fouls — 22. Fouled out — none.
Grand View JV — 32 68
SWCC — 35 64