As the Blue Angels (1-10) head into the second half of the season, they get are getting ready to play the Scarlet Hawks of the Illinois Institute of Technology (0-14). Tomorrow's game is set for 7:00 pm at the Keating Sports Complex in Chicago, Ill.
Tuesday's matchup should provide an exciting contest. The teams split in last season's two game series, in starkly different games. In the first, the Blue Angels had a season high in steals as a team with 14. MMU forced 34 IIT turnovers in the first match, and only gave the ball up 20 times. The turnover ratio plus the fact that the Blue Angels hit 31 field goals at a 43 percent clip made for a season's best overall performance as they defeated IIT 77-58.
In the second matchup in 2014, MMU had a short bench and could not duplicate their prior performance. The Blue Angels gave up the ball 32 times and shot 28 percent from the field, in almost the exact opposite showing of the first game as IIT won 67-33.
This year the Blue Angels have added more game experienced players to their roster and it has showed. Becky Onan (Fr./Grafton, Wis.) has been steadily increasing her performance game after game. So far, Onan has already recorder her first NCAA double-double, and has averaged over 12 points per game since the first ballgame against Northland College. Onan has already demonstrated that she is a "jack of all trades" in her last three games she has averaged two blocks, two steals, three assists and six rebounds.
While the team is young, the youth has started to show more and more signs of maturity as Chrisandra Freeman (Fr./Cedar Rapids, Iowa) has averaged 12.1 ppg and 6.7 rebounds per game. Rookie Jasmine Meyer (Fr./Lansing, Kan.) has been averaging nearly 30 minutes per game, all the while with the best turnover ratio at 1.7 per game. Meyer has also added 7.8 ppg and 5.1 rpg for her Blue Angels.
Since last year's two extremely different performances, it will be hard to predict which team will have the edge. Looking through the 2014-15 team stats, MMU and IIT seem nearly identical, with the slight edge given to the Blue Angels in field goal percentage and 3-point percentage.
Following Tuesday's road game, the Blue Angels will prepare for a home game against Grace Bible College (11-5). The game is on Saturday Jan. 17th at 7:00 pm at the Bloechl Center.
