We have a tale of two different games on our hands, as both Stevenson women’s and men’s basketball faced off against Messiah in Grantham, Pennsylvania on Wednesday. The women lost on the road by a final score of 59-44 to drop their 6th straight match. Meanwhile, the men took down Messiah with a final score of 98-66 to right the ship after a tough loss to Johns Hopkins on Jan. 3.
Men’s program
Although similar early starts occurred, the end result for the men’s team showcased what may have appeared to be full-on domination without full context.
Fourth-year guard Kendall Seguignol posted a 10-point/10-rebound double-double in the game along with notching a pair of steals. Third-year guard Kole Beaman contributed 18 points on a scorching hot 70% shooting from the field while hitting a pair of threes in a game where once the Mustangs hit their stride, they could not be stopped.
There is emphasis that should be placed on “when” they were able to turn it up the notch, as they took a fairly early lead before surrendering a 14-4 run in favor of the opponents that left them trailing by 3 at the 8:46 mark of the 1st half.
While they had been scoring in bunches up to that point, the Mustangs gave up some offensive boards and allowed for routine looks to clear up for Messiah over this time. Once these things were cleaned up, it didn’t take much time for them to tie the game once more before shifting into absolute overdrive.
Their goal has been to win the advantage in transition and utilize their speed in the open court to the fullest extent all season long. They executed this starting with the first game-breaking run, an 13-2 spurt in the 1st half that opened the game up to an 11-point lead that Messiah never came back from.
The Mustangs forced 15 turnovers on the night, and a few in this run led to exploits for scoring against a defense that was too far out of position to alter much of anything.
“Messiah is a team that is dangerous in transition and when you turn the ball over, you allow them to get out in transition. We only had 8 turnovers, which was our season low, and this really set us up to run some good offense,” head coach Jack Bors said.
It was the perfect matchup of two teams who predicate their systems on the fast-break advantages created off of sound defense and timely plays. Only one could truly win this battle, and the Mustangs made it an emphasis to come out as the victors in this regard, opening up everything else.
Stevenson dictated the pace and were effective in doing so, holding Messiah to 34.8% shooting from the field and 20.7% shooting from deep. It’s a testament to closing out at the right time with rotations and keeping a reasonable balance of defensive discipline and aggression, and it led to what could be considered the kill shot in this match.
“We knew we were facing a good big last night and particularly Kyle [Luddy] and Jelani [Lee] took on the challenge. But our interior defense is always a team effort. Our guards have done a great job of helping when we’ve needed them to and collectively, we’ve been really solid in keeping the ball out of the paint,” Bors said.
The 18-4 run produced by the Mustangs later in the second half placed all you needed to know on display as the lead increased to as high as 32 before first-year guard David Pridgen responded with a 3-pointer at the buzzer to finish it off.
The ability to carve out their own offense in an opportunistic manner was represented best by their 19-3 advantage in points off of turnovers, and they collectively had 44.7%/41.7%/78.6% shooting splits as a team, ensuring that this game was as good as done for the opposing side.
A few more players logged double-digit points in the game as third-year guard Christian Jackson also dished out a team-high 6 assists. After that rough patch, it was all Stevenson the rest of the way through.
Women’s program
Second-year guard Anaya Price led the squad with 18 points and 4 rebounds on 7/17 shooting from the field with a pair of threes. Flanking her contributions was fellow second-year guard Janiya Ennis who tallied 8 points on the night along with 3 steals, 4 rebounds and 4 assists.
Defensively, the team did allow Messiah to shoot 40% from the perimeter in the contest, but the full context of the matter reveals a lot more to the matter at hand. The teams combined for a total of 28 attempts beyond the arc (10 shots overall for Messiah), and the core of the damage in this one took place in the restricted/painted area and on the glass.
Stevenson had a slight advantage in points off of turnovers (12-4 in the Mustangs favor), meaning that they were able to force the opposition into uncomfortable scenarios at times and open up cleaner looks for themselves on the run and down low.
For the most part, however, set defenses on both sides tested the physical toll and willpower that each team could afford to absorb in the contest. Although the squad would give up a 10-4 run to open up the game, they largely weathered the storm within the flow of the match.
In a similar manner to their previous match, they started to have counters for these scores throughout the second quarter, as they got scores from both Price and sophomore guard Nadia Ferguson to cut the lead down to two at multiple points. Price also hit the jumper that allowed for a brief but telling 24-24 tie prior to a minor slump in offensive production before halftime.
“I thought we came out with a lot of energy on both ends of the court. I think we can continue to use our athleticism and defensive pressure to get us in the spot we want to be in,” Price said.
Even with that sudden lull in action, the unrelenting pressure from the Mustangs kept Messiah on ice. The Mustangs accounted for 34 boards across all players on the night, and they went toe-to-toe on the boards with a few uneventful misses before a three-pointer from Price got them back within one at the 4:08 mark of the third quarter.
The work had been done to creep back into the game, and a truly game-defining moment felt like it was on the horizon. Could they seize it?
The answer to that is as demoralizing as the events that played out in the fourth quarter. Yes, the low-percentage shooting has been a theme for the squad over the losing streak (Stevenson shot 25.8% from the field). Still, that was not as large of an issue considering how close this was. The distance was truly created as Messiah started to enact their own dominance on the glass.
While the efforts from the Mustangs in this one were formidable, they could not match the physicality and intensity Messiah possessed in crashing the glass. They had 51 rebounds on the night (17 more) as multiple players for the team posted double-digit rebounds.
Their forward duo of first-year April Kauffeldt and graduate Liv Monturo had 12 and 16 rebounds, respectively while having 5 each on the offensive end.
Ultimately, this game will go down as possibly one of the strongest efforts the team has produced on the year. The match was also their first against a conference opponent on the year, which invokes a bit of promise amongst the team.
“I’m really proud of the team and how we came out the first game of conference play. We’ve been talking about intensity and playing all four quarters since the beginning of the preseason,” fourth-year forward Kalea Wynter said. “I think we are really close to who we want to be as a team and I can’t wait to see our successes as we continue conference play.”
However, as they move forward and progress in conference play, more effective ways will need to be implemented to take control of aspects that may not always be advantageous to them at the start.
“I am very pleased with the defensive effort, holding a team like Messiah to only 59 points is formidable. The defense and offense is getting us the shots, we just need to capitalize. I have no doubt that we will figure this out as we go through conference play,” head coach Jackie Boswell said.
