Despite a good performance by Warrior forward Zeb Green, the Warriors came up short as the team fell to Barclay College 48-78 on Friday night in Kansas City, MO. With the loss, the Warriors fall to 4-2 in the MCCC Conference.
“This game will continue to make us better,” Warrior Head Coach Matt Sanders said. “We can’t simulate in practice the kind of speed that Barclay played with tonight. We’re better having played them. We struggled offensively because of their pressure. They forced 32 turnovers tonight and that is not Calvary Basketball.”
Calvary came into the game on the heels of a three game winning streak. The team was looking to continue that streak as they took the court at the Pyramid Athletic Center. The young freshmen had a lot of opportunities to play quality minutes because of injuries to Braydon Unruh, Ques Harris, and Ben Jones. “It is always good to see the freshmen improving, Sanders said. We will be stronger as a unit because of the adversity we are going through now.”
Next up, the Warriors will travel to Moberly as the team prepares to face conference-rival Central Christian College on Tuesday night.
The Calvary University Women’s basketball team grabbed their 11th win of the season with a 69-56 victory over Ozark Christian College Tuesday night. The game was closely contested at the start with both teams exchanging leads in the first quarter. Calvary’s largest lead of the first half came at the five minute mark in the second quarter with the Lady Warriors leading by 12. By the end of the first half, Ozark had cut the lead down to 28-33 with some terrific offensive possessions.
In the second half the Lady Warriors seemed to struggle to find ways to score, but kept their lead with tough defense that limited Ozark’s penetration. Despite their shooting struggles, the Warriors were able to keep their lead for the entire 2nd half. “The team did a great job of being able to stop their drive in the 2nd half.” Coach Tressa Shoemaker said. “We had a tougher game offensively as we just couldn’t find our rhythm. But through it all, our girls kept their poise and took opportunities to score in key moments of the game.”
The Ambassadors would not go away however and came within seven points of Calvary in the final minute, but a clutch 3 point shot from Hunter in the final minute sealed the deal in the Warriors 69-56 win. The Warriors were led once again by Taylor Hunter who finished with 28 points, and Anna Holloway who added 15 of her own. The Lady Warriors will next face Union College at home on the 31st of January
On Tuesday night, the Warriors secured an 80-74 victory in a crucial conference matchup against Ozark Christian College. Zeb Green finished with 18 points and eight rebounds.
“Zeb continues to draw double and triple teams,” stated Coach Matt Sanders. “This is really opening up opportunities for guys like Jay, Ques, Braydon, and Ben.” Braydon Unruh finished with 14 points and six rebounds while Jay Lems contributed 17 points. Ben Jones added an important 14 points and six rebounds while Ques Harris finished with nine points and four assists. “Drake had some important minutes for us off the bench,” Sanders said. “He finished with five points and three assists.”
Coach Sanders was asked about his team’s defensive performance after the game. He responded, “Our defensive effort was great tonight. It was our best total defensive performance. We executed the game plan as well as we have all season. We competed out there tonight during a very important game. The Ambassadors only had one player score in double figures during the game and that is a great accomplishment.”
The game was not an offensive highlight. Ozark changed defensive looks throughout the game and it gave the Warriors some trouble. Calvary also battled through some adversity with some injuries that will be checked out more completely on Wednesday.
With the victory, the Warriors helped move their conference record to 4-1 with a big matchup upcoming against Barclay College on Friday in the Pyramid Athletic Center at 7:00 p.m.
The Warrior basketball team came out strong from the start this weekend and never looked back as they came away with two conference wins over Faith Baptist Bible College and Emmaus Bible College. “There is a lot of excitement around our yearly matchup with Faith and Emmaus,” Coach Sanders said. “Both teams look forward to these games every year.”
The Warriors beat Faith in Iowa last year and split with Emmaus. They wanted to defend their home court this weekend as the Pyramid Athletic Center was packed with a great fan turnout on both nights. “The Black Hole was great this weekend,” Warrior Head Coach Matt Sanders said. “Their support means a lot to us and they cheered loud throughout the games. It was a great atmosphere in here.”
“Our defense has improved,” Sanders said. “For the most part we did a great job of communicating and closing out on shooters and not giving up many open looks. The key for us this weekend was that we were able to get contributions from everyone,” Sanders said. “It was a total team effort and I’m proud of the way we played. Our freshmen played like sophomores through both games.” On Friday Ben Jones led the way offensively with 17 points, while Zeb Green scored 16. Ques Harris added 11 points with Zak Kirkman contributing 10 to the cause.
On Saturday Braydon Unruh led the way with 27 points. He finished shooting 6/11 from beyond the arc. Zeb Green contributed a huge double-double with 11 points and 14 rebounds. The Warriors forced Faith to shoot just 33% from the field. On Saturday they improved this stat yet again and held Emmaus to 29% shooting. With the win, the Warriors move to 6-7 on the season and 3-1 in the Midwest Christian College Conference. The team will be back in action Tuesday night as they host Ozark Christian College at 7 p.m.
The Calvary Women’s Basketball team faced both Faith Baptist Bible College, and Emmaus Bible College in a pair of games over the weekend. Calvary played Faith Baptist on Friday night. Faith came out strong and played tremendous defense in the first quarter. Calvary started to take control of the game in the second quarter and went into halftime with a 15-40 lead. The Lady Warriors never looked back after halftime as they came out of the gates with a 21-2 run that put the game out of reach.
Taylor Hunter led the Warriors with 21 points and 11 steals. Anna Holloway added 18 points and 10 rebounds. Calvary finished with a commanding final score of 70-25.
The Lady Warriors next faced the Emmaus Eagles on Saturday afternoon. Emmaus used full court pressure and a strong man-to-man defense to jump to a 30-14 lead by the end of the first quarter. Calvary was able to cut the Emmaus lead down to eight just before half-time with hot three point shooting from Taylor Hunter. With several players in foul trouble, the Lady Warriors were unable to find an answer for Emmaus in the second half and the final score was 103-73. Taylor Hunter finished with 26 points while Anna Holloway added 24. Anna Davis led the Warriors in rebounding with 7. “This was our first week of three games, and I am so proud of the girls for working hard in each game we played.” Said Coach Shoemaker. “We definitely learned a lot about our team and what we are capable of, and what improvements we need to make to step up in our competition. I am looking forward to our next games and the challenges ahead.” Next up on the schedule for the Lady Warriors is Ozark Christian College on Tuesday at home.
