"We had the rebounding edge and had some offensive boards, but we turned the ball over a lot early in the game," said head coach Dustin Howard said. "On top of it all, we had to take some bad shots at the end of the shot clock. We knew coming in it was going to be tough to score in the half court, and we tried to make it a faster-paced game. We dug too deep of a hole early by not running a good enough offense but Jaimie kept us in the game and was really a bright spot for us after I challenged them at halftime."
Kadlecek scored 16 of her 21 points in the second half making three three-pointers and finished shooting 8-of-14 from the floor. Brandace Latin added 12 points and nine rebounds while Mary Slaughter grabbed 14 rebounds with nine points. April Leonard posted five assists. Mississippi College's Traci Rodgers had 20 points.
Mississippi College capitalized on 26 ETBU turnovers for 30 points while also scoring 32 points in the paint. They held ETBU to just 31 percent shooting from the floor and 26 percent from the arc as ETBU only made 7-of-26 three-points taken. ETBU won the rebounding edge, 48-35, but could not find a way to stop MC's shooting as they hit 45 percent from the floor and 50 percent from the three-point line.
Down 14 points at the half, ETBU made a run early to put themselves back into the thick of things. MC started the second half on a Rodgers' jumper for a 16-point lead, 35-19, but the next five minutes belonged to ETBU. Slaughter started a 19-5 run in that time as ETBU came within two, 40-38. Amanda Rucker swooshed in a three-pointer bringing the lead down to 11, 35-24 and then followed that with two free throws just 20 seconds later as ETBU was within nine. Leonard canned the second three-pointer in the run but MC put the lead back at nine, 38-29, with their own three-pointer.
Latin hit the third team three-pointer in the run at the 16:01 mark as ETBU was now within six, 38-32. Kadlecek made it a three-point ball game as ETBU connected for a fourth three-pointer to make it 38-35. With 14:23 left to play, MC's Ebony Williams banked in a layup for a five-point lead but less than 20 seconds later Kadlecek hit her second three-pointer in a row as ETBU was within two, 40-38. That is as close as they would come MC went on a 23-9 run in the next 10 minutes pushing their lead back to 16 points, 63-47.
ETBU did come back to within 10, 63-53, with 2:38 to play but the rushed shots would not fall as they dropped the ASC East contest.
The first half featured ETBU's only lead, 6-4, just four minutes into the game. Latin banked in a layup at the 16:01 mark for the two-point lead. ETBU was within two, four times, in the next six minutes and even tied the game at 10 on two free throws by Leonard. After the 10-10 tie, MC went on a 16-7 run for a nine-point lead, 26-17, as they took control of the game.
ETBU will host #19 Louisiana College on Saturday, January 26th, at 1:00 p.m. in Ornelas Gym. The ETBU Student-Athlete Athletic Advisory Committee is collecting donations for Mission Marshall as a part of the ASC's "Make A Change" Challenge in the next two weeks. They are also collecting warm clothing for the people of Marshall, too, in this time. If you would like to donate please contact advisor Adam Ledyard at aledyard@etbu.edu.