Lady Pioneers Bounce Back With Impressive Win
University Center - Coming off their biggest defeat in a decade, the Lady Pioneers redeemed themselves in a big way on Wednesday as they defeated Kellogg Community College by the score of 93-63. The win improves Delta's record to 5-4 on the season and helped serve notice that the squad continues to improve as they had dropped a decision to Kellogg earlier in the year by the score of 70-65.
"The win wasn't easy, but it was earned, and that's how it should be," said long time DC coach Kelly Miller. "We talk about it on a daily basis - easy offense from intense defense - and tonight we pulled it together to show what we are capable of."
Judging by the first half, it looked as though Delta would be in for a much closer battle than the final score indicated as Kellogg led 24-20 after the first quarter and 42-35 after the second. Once again, the Pioneers struggled with unforced turnovers and offensive miscues that found themselves in a seven point deficit coming out of the locker room for the third quarter.
A quarter that saw DC pour it on and take a commanding lead as they outscored Kellogg 35-9 to not only erase the deficit but go up by 19 points heading in to the final stanza.
"It was a tale of two halves and we were the benefactors of having the better second half," said Miller. "Wask (freshman guard Waskwane Stonefish) and Ashlee (Lee) anchored our defense while Harmany (Williams) and Jenna (Szostak) carried the offensive load. (It was an) all around total team effort."
Although the Pioneers statistically had more turnovers (24) than the Bruins (19), Delta was better able to take advantage of their steals and forced turnovers – especially in the third quarter. With a commanding lead already in place, DC rattled off another 23 point effort in the fourth, courtesy of outlet layups, execution of plays and knocking down free throws.
Harmany Williams led the offense with 20 point and six rebounds while Jenna Szostak added 17 points and Ashley Lee added 14 points and seven boards. All ten Pioneer players had at least three points in the game.
"We have two tough games coming up against Lake Michigan and Muskegon and if we can keep up the efforts and motivation we had from tonight's second half we can definitely win both of those games," said Miller.
The Pioneers will play again on Saturday at home versus Lake Michigan Community College. They finish the non-conference portion of their schedule on Tuesday, December 20th at Muskegon before opening the MCCAA Eastern Conference portion of their schedule on January 4th when they host Alpena.
Saturday's tip is scheduled for 1pm.