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Pfohl, Steinauer lead Owls to win in home opener

Hunter Lyle – Sports Writer

In a game that came down the final fleeting seconds, the women’s basketball team was able to defeat Le Moyne 65-63.

The Owls improved to 4-0 and 2-0 in the NE10 Conference – after the win. Le Monye fell to 1-1 before.

Head coach and Southern alumna Kate Lynch said she was happy with the overall team success and endurance after playing so many games in such a short time.

“It was tough for us, we just played five games in seven days so we knew we weren’t going to be as sharp as we normally are, but they just focused when we needed them to,” said Lynch. “We got some defensive stops when we needed to and Amanda Pfohl really stepped up big for us towards the end. It was definitely a team win.”

The game started off with tough defensive sets from both teams. In the first quarter, the Owls were able to come up with four steals. Le Moyne kept themselves in the game by forcing three shot clock violations and kept the score to 15-15.

In the second quarter, the rebounding of junior Kiana Steinauer, who almost had a double-double in the first half with 11 points and 7 rebounds, paired with the defense of junior Jessica Fressle, the Owls turned up the energy and took a 33-26 lead going into the break.

“We just ultimately want to stop the ball as much as possible. We have goals as a team and we want to try our best to get those,” said Steinauer. “As a team, we want to do whatever we can to get stops on defense so we can execute on offense.”

Between the Le Moyne potent third quarter offense, or the Owls starting with six misses, the Dolphins came back and eventually tied the game with minutes left.

With time winding down in the game, the Owls and the Dolphins fought for every possession. The Owls were able to get hot from deep, Fressle and senior Amanda Pfohl hitting a combined five threes in the final minutes of play.

The game came down to a final possession from Le Moyne, with the score set at 65-63 and just seconds left on the clock, but the Southern defense held through and sealed the win.

“I actually like playing in tight games better than blow outs,” said Pfohl. “Mentally you’re more involved in the game, it’s more exciting and you definitely try harder. It’s more adrenaline.”

Among the successes of the day was Pfhol, who scored a career high in points with 17.

“[Setting my career high] is awesome. I’m not going to take any of the credit though,” said Pfohl. “My team really has a lot of confidence in me and there’s been a couple games where I’ve had a hard time shooting and today I just let it fly. I didn’t really let any of negative energy get to me.”

Pfohl also credited her relationship with her coach and how much confidence she generates.

“My coach specifically has really given me a lot of confidence in me. She’ll send me cute quotes before the game to be confident in my shooting and I think, at this point, it was just do or die,” said Pfohl. “I was going to keep shooting whether I made it or missed it, and it just happened to go in today.”

The Owls improved to 5-0 with a win against Queens College on Nov. 25. They return home to play New Haven on Nov. 28.an NE10 Conference game.

Photo Credit: Palmer Piana

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