SXU Atheltics
On Jan. 24 the Cougars defeated the Fighting Saints of Saint Francis 87-79.
Despite falling behind early in the game, the Saints came back late in the second half to challenge the Cougars.
This comeback, however, was short lived as Morgan Stuut and other key players fought back.
The #4 ranked Saint Xavier cougars came out hot lead by Caitlin McMahon’s five points four rebounds and three blocks within the first four minutes of the game which lead Saint Xavier to begin the game on a 9–2 run.
But the Fighting Saints fought back to take a 22–20 lead on the Cougars.
These teams would then go on to trade baskets with one another, but ultimately St. Xavier would go into halftime leading 42–37.
In the second half, the cougars started to pull away thanks to Morgan Stuut’s 14 second-half points and eight second-half rebounds.
With just under 10 minutes left to go in the second half, the cougars lead 70–58.
But the opposition had one last run in them closing the 12 point gap to just a 78–76 lead with 2:24 left to play.
But that would be as close as the Fighting Saints would get though as the Cougars would hold them off and win the game 87–79.
Morgan Stuut starred once again scoring 27 points and adding in 11 rebounds continuing her stretch of dominant performances in the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference.
Caitlin McMahon also had a double double with 13 points 12 rebounds and adding in four blocks to cap off an impressive defensive performance by her.
Kara Krolicki was second on the team in scoring with 18 points.
Mikayla Layden also had a great performance scoring a career-high 16 points and dishing out six assists.
The team looked very good on the defensive side of the ball especially in terms of rebounding and blcoking shots as they had 40 rebounds and seven blocks in the game which was one of the main reasons why they won the game.
Another key to their success was their FG%. The Cougars shot 55.7% from the field, including shooting 53.8% from beyond the three point line.
Stuut and Krolicki were extremely proficient from behind the arc shooting a combined 6-8.
Somes areas that the team could improve in heading into next game are turnovers and free throw shooting.
In the first half of the game, St. Xavier shot a paltry 44.4% and finished the game shooting 66.7% from the free throw line.
Also, the team committed 15 turnovers, something that made this game much clsoer than it should have been.
The Cougars will look to continue to remain undefeated against conference foes when they battle Holy Cross College on Wednesday, January 28, at 5 PM in the Shannon Center.
John Romando
Senior Sports Editor