SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – By Mike Bennett, special contributor to evangelathletics.com
Clarke University proved on Saturday afternoon why it is ranked eighth nationally in NAIA women’s basketball.
The veteran Pride – featuring many fifth-year players – never trailed and pulled away at the end on Saturday in halting this season’s Evangel unbeaten five-game home winning streak.
The final score was 66-50.
The Valor were especially undone by shooting woes, but their hustle didn’t make it easy for Clarke. In fact, Evangel rallied several times from double-figure deficits to cut the score to within two possessions at Ashcroft Center.
“That is a very good team that has a number of five-year players,” said Coach Preston Beverly. “We are a young team – start three sophomores and a senior who hadn’t played since high school. It’s continuing to control our controllables. We just have to figure out ways to win.”
The Pride led by 12 in the second quarter, but Valor senior forward Alexis Cauthon scored the last five points of the quarter on a trey, and 10-foot jump shot to trim Clarke’s lead to 33-27 at halftime. Lexi Berry set up the last-second field goal by winning a scramble for an offensive rebound and passing to Cauthon, who led the Valor with 12 points in just 11 minutes of play.
The Valor pulled within four early in the third quarter – at 33-29 – after a field goal by Micah Clayton.
Then Clark surged ahead again before Sarah Lwambo scored on a follow shot to cut it to
41-37 halfway through the quarter.
But, the Valor never could execute the scoring plays consistently in the second half that was needed to surmount Clarke’s all-around strong play.
The Pride built the lead back up to 53-39 after three quarters. “There’s not a question whether we can play with anyone in the Heart,” Beverly said. “For us, it’s figuring out ‘how do we overcome some scoring slumps?”
Shooting was a major nemesis, indeed, for Evangel: The Valor hit just 2-of-18 on 3-point field-goal attempts and 2-of-9 on free throws. They were 22-68 on field goals for 33.8%.
“We got some really good shots,” Beverly said. “You’ll have some good and tough shooting nights. We were able to speed them up and get some really good things defensively.
They don’t typically have 16 turnovers.”
Clarke shot 11 fewer field-goal attempts and made 25 for 43.9% while also hitting 5-for-12 on treys and 11-for-12 on free throws. The Pride led 42-36 in rebounds.
Alexis Roach added eight points for Evangel, while Micah Clayton, Jazzy Kirby, and Sadie Chisum had six points apiece.
Clayton grabbed a team-high seven rebounds. Kirby made a team-high four assists and had six rebounds.
Evangel showed its usual bright spot of grabbing offensive rebounds. The Valor had 16 to exceed their average of 14.7 – which ranked second nationally in NAIA basketball.
The loss dropped Evangel to 6-8 overall and 5-4 in the Heart Conference. “We are still in a really good spot. I am really proud of this group,” Beverly said.
Tina Ubk scored 20 points, grabbed six rebounds, and made four assists and three steals to lead Clarke, which rose to 13-2 and 7-2.
Benedictine was 6-8 overall and 3-5 in the Heart going into a game Saturday against Grand View.
“Benedictine is another really tough team,” Beverly said. “That will be a good opportunity for us.”
NEXT UP
The Valor return to action with a game at Benedictine (Kan.) at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.
