CHICAGO – The Mount Mary University basketball team defeated the Moody Bible Archers 60-40. The win ends the five game losing streak and makes the Blue Angels 3-11 on the season while giving the Archers a 2-13 record.
An unforgettable start, the Blue Angels began the game going 9-of-9 from the field. Head Coach Marc Heidorf, "I've been doing this for a while, I've never seen a team start a game 9 for 9." MMU went on to take a 31-10 lead after the first quarter for their biggest offensive output in a single quarter this season.
While hitting 25-of-69 from the field in the game, the Blue Angels clamped down on defense and held the Archers to 30.8 percent from the field and 40 points. MMU forced 25 turnovers by the Archers and blocked four shots.
"The defensive effort was top notch. We had been getting pretty vanilla recently and this week Jess [Runge] and Ariel [Oviedo] came to me and said 'we think we can be more aggressive'..." Coach Heidorf added, "…they led the way and the rest of the team matched their intensity and focus."
Jess Runge (Jr./Freedom, Wis.) kept the offense in flow with seven assists and nine points. The point guard also added three steals to her Great South Athletic Conference leading average.
Ariel Oviedo (Jr./Shawano, Wis.) added 10 points and four steals of her own to back-up her pregame talk.
The Blue Angels starters including Oviedo, Runge, Becky Onan (So./Grafton, Wis.), Tajah Williams (Fr./Milwaukee, Wis.), and Shandrieka Richardson (Sr./Atlanta, Ga.) made up for 58 of the teams scoring. Including the sixth double-double of Onan's season with 23 points and 11 rebounds. Onan finished with five steals and three blocks to add to the defensive efforts.
"We hit a lull after halftime, and they went on a run. That's when Becky took over." Coach Heidorf recalled, "We had gotten passive and Becky just decided to attack the basket. That stemmed their momentum and we were able to maintain the rest of the way"
After the win, the Blue Angels will prepare for Illinois Tech. The Scarlet Hawks will head to the Bloechl Center Tues. Feb. 9 to finish the two game season series between the schools. Tipoff is at 6:00 pm, live stats and live video will be available at mtmaryathletics.com.
