For the first time this year, Spring Arbor has a win streak. After following every win with a loss, the Lady Cougars were finally able to piece together two wins after winning on the road at the University of Michigan - Dearborn campus 66-50 in a game that was much closer than the final score would lead you to believe.
With a halftime score of 29-24 with Spring Arbor (7-6, 1-2) in the lead, UofM Dearborn (2-11, 0-0) opened up the second half with an 11-4 run in the first 5 ? minutes. After trading points for the next 7 minutes, 2 free throws by Kelly Bruggeman with 7:19 to go and Kate Bement's field goal with 6:53 to go in the game put Spring Arbor up by 3 and would never relinquish the lead for the rest of the game.
During a 2 ? minute stretch with 5:05 to go in the game, Kelly Bruggeman scored 9 of the Cougars 11 points as Spring Arbor built an 8 point lead 58-50. Spring Arbor would score the last 8 points of the game on free throws to finish the game 66-50 to improve to 7 wins against 6 losses on the season.
"It was a struggle," Spring Arbor coach Tara Kreklau said. "We played well defensively, and the ball finally went in the basket for us. This is finals week, and we're drained. We found a way to win a game on the road, and that's important."
Bruggeman would finish the game with 15 points and 12 rebounds. Kate Bement also scored 15 points and Alex Glen chipped in 13 points. Ashley Stelter added 7 points and 4 assists to her totals.
The Lady Cougars shot 23 of 32 from the free throw line as U of M Dearborn went 5 for 10. The Cougars have yet to shoot less free throws then any opponent so far this season. "This is a result of three things, really," stated Kreklau. "One, is we play a lot of zone defense and stress no fouls. Two, we are attacking the basket effectively and that will create a lot of fouls, and three, other teams are pressing us quite a bit and that will also create more fouls."
The ladies will return to action this Saturday, December 18th when they travel to Ypsilanti , MI to take on Concordia University. Tip-off is scheduled for 1:00. Spring Arbor opened the year at home against Concordia winning the game 66-65.
