Last week the women’s basketball team won its first home game this season against the Robert Morris University-Springfield. Not only did the team win the game, they won by 17 points.
The Prairie Stars got off to an early 5-0 lead and then junior Megan Bergerud hit her first two three-pointers of the game within the first several minutes. The women continued to score and increase their lead, but with just under eleven minutes left in the first half the Eagles went on an 8 point run to take their only lead of the night. The Stars fought their way back to regain the lead after an 11-2 run. Sophomore Carly Goede increased the Stars lead by 8 after shooting a three-pointer with 3 minutes remaining in the first half.
At half time the Prairie Stars had the lead at 29-21.
The second half started off much like the first with the Stars continuing to extend their lead to make it a fifteen point game. Bergerud hit another three-pointer with just little over twelve minutes remaining in the game. The Prairie Stars would increase their lead to seventeen to make it 58-42 with 2 minutes remaining. The Stars took off and left the Eagles in the dust to win their first game of the season with a final score of 60-47.
Bergerud led the Stars with eighteen points and 8 rebounds, while junior Alyssa Palmer and sophomore Gwen Zehner each had thirteen points. Junior Liz Kelly added twelve rebounds for UIS and Senior Ashley Coffey finished the game 9 points and 7 rebounds.
After the game the athletic department celebrated Family Night at the Recreational and Athletic Center sponsored by the Bank of Springfield. The men’s game followed the festivities.
The men’s team, voted to finish fourth this season, did not have the start they were hoping for this season and were looking to win to get back on track. The game began with the Stars taking an early lead and scoring the first six points of the game. The Stars increased their lead to fourteen points when sophomore Dylan Sparkman scored with eleven minutes remaining in the first half. The lead then increased to a seventeen point game just 2 minutes before halftime. The two teams went into the locker room at half time with the score being 41-26 in the Prairie Stars favor.
After intermission the Stars kept their lead and the Eagles were never able to come close. With just five minutes into the second half the lead increased to 18 points when junior Regan Bruenger scored making the score 47-29. A dunk by Sparkman, four minutes later, made it a 20 point game. Then with just under seven minutes remaining in the game junior Dylan Mosack made a bucket to give the stars a twenty-two point lead of the Eagles. The final score of the night was 72-56 making the men’s overall record 2-4.
After the game when asked about the night’s performance, men’s head coach Ben Wierzba commented “(It was ) sloppy. We made to many turn-overs and made to many mistakes.” With the season just now beginning the team has a few more things work out, but hopefully this win will put the team in the right direction.
