Aaron Johnson – General Assignment Reporter
NEW HAVEN – The Southern Connecticut State women’s basketball team put on a dominate effort at home against Concordia College earning their first win on the season by the score of 97-57. Head coach Meghan Brown said that the win will help her team to continue to grow and mature throughout the long season.
“I think we grew up a lot today,” said Brown. “We just kept challenging them with different goals at every timeout so that they could focus on getting better in some areas.”
The Owls lead throughout the contest, leading the way was sophomore forward Jackie Beathea who finished the contest with a double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds on eight of 15 from the field. Concordia turned the ball over 32 times and the Owls were able to capitalize outscoring the Clippers 32-11 on points off turnovers.
“We were trying to get them to deny the catches on the perimeter. I feel like that got better this evening. I feel like the communication was better tonight and they were resilient in trying new things,” said Brown.
Sophomore forward Danielle Powell came up a rebound and two assists shy of a triple-double as she finished with 14 points, nine rebounds, and eight assists for the Owls. The Owls shot 48 percent from the field including seven of 11 from three-point range. Brown said that getting the first win of the season feels good because her team got better as a whole.
“This win feels good because we got better tonight. I think that’s the thing. You know, you learn from your wins and you learn from your losses. You have to get better each step of the way,” said Brown. “So it’s a good win because we got better tonight, they responded to challenges and worked to execute what we asked them to do.”
Along with forcing 32 turnovers, the Owls defense was stout the entire night finishing the with seven blocks and 18 steals to go long with the 32 points scored off turnovers. Three other Owls scored in double figures as the bench scoring added to the impressive effort for Southern outscoring Concordia 42-17. Brown said that despite the win the Owls still have a lot to take from this contest as they go through the rest of the season.
“We need to get more rebounds from our guard position. We need to transition better up and down the floor. Honestly, we have such a young team we just need to continue to work together and get better for each other,” said Brown.
After a tough loss to open the season against St. Thomas Aquinas, the Owls bounced back in their home opener. The Clippers were led in scoring by freshman center Rebecca Gordon, who finished with 15 points to go along with with six rebounds. Gordon was the only Concordia player to reach double figures. Brown said that she was happy with the way the Owls played in the later stages of the contest.
“Towards the end we were trying different sets against their (Concordia) zone,” said Brown. “We really wanted to drive the ball to the paint before we took any shot attempts and I think that really got better for us.”
