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Conq women show spirit against
Pratt
By John Curtis www.dodgeglobe.com
It was gut-check time Wednesday night for the Dodge City
Conquistadors women’s basketball team for how they wanted to play the rest of
the season after a couple of weeks of adversity.
The Conqs responded with one of their best efforts of the season in an 83-48
victory over the Pratt Beavers in a Jayhawk West contest at the Civic Center.
"I think we’ve turned the corner," said sophomore guard Beth Troutt about the
Conqs’ recent misfortunes. "We played more as a team than we have the previous
games. We tried to make each other better setting each other up than worried
about our own shots."
Troutt led the Conqs (19-8, 7-6) in scoring with 21 points Q including 6-of-11
from three-point range. Dodge City shot 14-of-25 from three-point range, 8-of-11
from long range after halftime.
Nicole Beckerman hit three of her four three-point attempts to score 11 points,
while Aroha Jennings was 2-of-3 from beyond the arc and scored 12 points.
Chanelle Freeman recorded another double-double with 14 points and 14 boards.
The Conqs also clamped down on defense as Pratt (12-16, 2-11). The Beavers
didn’t make their 10th field goal until 7:52 left in the game and shot 13-of-62
for the game.
Conqs head coach Jim Turgeon admitted he wanted to know how his team would
respond to its two-game losing streak and continuing to adjust to new roles on
the team.
"I thought to myself before the game that how we came and played this game would
tell me exactly the mindset of this team," Turgeon said. "They obviously
answered the question that they’re not ready for the season to be over. I think
we’ll make a nice stretch run with this nice attitude they’ve got."
The Conqs made six of their first seven shots to open the game and build a 14-3
after four minutes of play. Dodge City’s next 10 points came off second chances
as the margin increased to 24-8 with nine minutes left before halftime.
Pratt was able to rally to cut the margin down to six with 4 1/2 minutes left,
but Dodge City didn’t allow another field goal in the half and got the lead back
to double digits at 36-26.
"We got off to a great shot and Chanelle and Patrice (McKenzie) were crashing
the boards and giving us great second chances," Turgeon said. "We had a height
advantage, so we should outrebound this team. Our posts did a good job."
Any chance the Beavers had in coming back with a second half run was squashed as
they missed 12 straight field goals during a 26-3 Dodge City run that increased
the margin to 67-36 with eight minutes left in regulation. The Conqs’ biggest
lead in the game was 37 in the final minute of the contest.
"We shot the ball well," Turgeon said. "Once we got them out of their man-to-man
(defense), because we were hurting them inside, and into their zone, we did a
good job moving the ball and we were fortunate to hit some shots."
PRATT (48) Q Bledsoe 1-5 0-0 2, Reyes 2-4 0-0 5, Hightower 0-4 2-2 2, Freestone
3-14 6-8 14, Davis 5-18 4-7 17, Flickinger 0-2 0-0 0, Shepard 0-0 0-0 0,
Beybeyah 0-9 1-2 1, Lilly 1-2 0-1 2, Gordon 1-4 3-4 5. Totals 13-62 16-24 48.
DODGE CITY (83) Q Snell 2-4 3-4 8, Meza 1-1 0-0 2, Gonzales 2-3 0-0 5, Osborn
1-2 0-0 3, McKenzie 2-8 3-4 7, Jennings 3-7 4-4 12, Troutt 7-16 1-2 21, Brown
0-0 0-0 0, Freeman 3-5 8-10 14, Beckerman 4-5 0-0 11. Totals 25-51 19-24 83.
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DODGE
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