No. 22 SC beats Mac

By STEVE SELL, Sentinel Sports Editor

Sterling College's 22nd-ranked women dealt McPherson College a huge dose of reality Thursday at the Sport Center.

The Bulldogs, the feel-good story of the KCAC so far as they entered the night 2-0 in the conference and 7-1 overall, were brought back to earth by the Lady Warriors, who dominated the game from start to finish for an 89-60 victory.

"I don't want to use this as an excuse because I don't want to take anything away from Sterling because they played well, but Brenna Schierling and Kathy Tello probably shouldn't even have been playing because of the flu," said Mac coach Mel Wright, whose team already was without starting point guard Andi Wilder, out with a concussion. "We had only five healthy players. You need more than that against a team the quality of Sterling."

Sterling built a double-digit lead with four minutes left in the first half and steadily increased the margin. After it was 40-24 at the break, SC's Amy Anderson went on a personal 8-0 run early in the second half to break the game totally open.

Wright had been concerned about rebounding going into the game, but the Bulldogs actually did their best job of the year on the boards. Crystal Richardson pulled down 14 rebounds to go along with her 12 points for a double-double and Mac outrebounded Sterling, 52-45.

Tello came off the bench to score 13 points to tie Erica Alvarez for team honors. Christa Blose added 11.

Crystal Pitts, who set the tone with 14 first-half points, shot in 22 to lead SC. Anderson scored 16, Amanda Owens scored 14, Melissa Friess added 12 and K.C. Bassett chipped in with 10, as Sterling moved to 3-0 in the KCAC and 7-1 overall.

Mac wraps up the first-semester schedule Saturday hosting Friends.

Mac (60) -- Schierling 1 2-2 4; Blose 3 5-5 11; Tello 4 4-7 13; Richardson 5 2-3 12; Suiter 0 1-4 1; Bevan 1 0-0 2; Kline 2 0-0 4; Alvarez 5 3-4 13. Totals -- 21 17-25 60. 3-pointers -- Tello 1.

Sterling (89) -- M. Friess 3 6-6 12; Bassett 4 0-0 10; Coykendall 1 1-2 3; Anderson 8 0-0 16; Owens 5 4-8 14; Pitts 8 3-4 22; Book 3 0-1 7; Brogren 1 3-4 5. Totals -- 33 17-25 89. 3-pointers -- Pitts 3, Bassett 2, Book 1.