SXU Athletics
The Saint Xavier women’s basketball team finished up their two week, season opening road trip with back to back wins against Trinity International University (Ill.) and Saint Ambrose University. These wins improved their overall record to 5 – 1 for the season.
Taking a look at the game against TIU, which took place on Nov. 12, the Cougar began their first foray into Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference play. And boy, what a great game to start with!
Unranked Trinity International was no match for number six seeded SXU in this contest as the Cougars beat the Trojans 73-37.
The Cougars tore away at any hopes of an upset that the TIU players, coaches, and fans may have had going into the game within the first few minutes of play.
Starting the game off with a 23 – 2 scoring run…Morgan Stuut, Suzie Broski, Caitlin McMahon, Mikayla Leyden, and Kara Krolicki hounded the Trojans early with bucket after bucket.
Krolicki, freshman guard, seems to have a bright future ahead of her at Saint Xavier University.
After her game winning shot last week at the Cattle Classic tournament, Krolicki had 11 points and four steals in seventeen minutes of play.
Senior forward, Stutt, as well as sophomore guards, Sidney Prasse and Leyden had nine points apiece, backing Krolicki and her stellar performance. Stutt had the highest amount of rebounds amongst her teammates with a total of eight.
While the Cougars were racking up points left and right, Saint Xavier kept the Trojans’ shooting percentage to a lowly 29 percent.
The defense was so impressive that it forced TIU to have 27 turnovers throughout the course of the game.
Those statistics, plus the 27 turnovers and 16 steals, made it possible for the women’s team to claim the victory over TIU.
Riding high on this win, the Cougars headed to Saint Ambrose on Nov. 16 to see if they could have a similar outcome.
Proving that her recent performances haven’t been flukes, Krolicki scored a whopping 21 points against the Fighting Bees.
Her 34 minutes of play were the highest she has had so far this season.
Krolicki continues to be a bright spot for the Cougars.
After losing many key seniors last year to graduation, the freshman guard gives coach Bob Hallberg flexibility with his starting lineup and more rest time for forward Stuut.
Speaking of Stuut, she had the same amount of points as Krolicki, plus 15 rebounds, seven assists, and six steals against the Fighting Bees.
Leyden had the second most amount of points out of all the women in this contest with a total of fifteen.
Most of these came from outside of the arc.
Senior guard Suzie Broski had a solid game as well.
Her 10 points and three blocks and steals came at critical times for the Cougars in the first half of the game while the score was close.
Junior center, McMahon set a personal record in Sunday’s game.
Her six blocks were the most she has ever acquired in her three years at Saint Xavier. McMahon also had 11 points and five rebounds.
With all of these bright spots for the women’s basketball team, it’s no shock to anyone that they were victorious over Saint Ambrose.
While the first half of the game was pretty hairy with neither team having more than a five point lead over the other, things calmed down for the Cougars close to halftime.
They pulled away with a 12 – 4 run in the second quarter to give them some breathing room before heading into the locker room to receive some inspirational advice from Hallberg.
Whatever he and the other coaches said must have worked because the ladies continued their great play into the third and fourth quarters. SXU pulled away even farther, giving them the 86 – 68 win over the Fighting Bees.
Looking ahead for the SXU, their next contest will be against 12th ranked Cardinal Stritch University (Wis.) on Nov. 19.
This will be the first home game for the Cougars since starting the 2014 – 2015 season just a few short weeks ago.
This game not only is against one of their biggest rivals, but it will also be very important for the Cougars as well. The game will be taking place in the Shannon Center, main court, at five in the afternoon.
This will be their second game in CCAC play of the season, and Saint Xavier needs a win to prove that they are going to be huge competitors this season.
And maybe not even just huge competitors, but possible even National Champions as well?
Guess we will just have to wait and see what the future holds this season!
Torie Bolster
Sports Editor