by (Peru, Neb.)—The Peru State women’s basketball team won its home opener 80-74 over Haskell Indian Nations University on Monday night. The Bobcats improve to 3-1 on the season while the Indians fall to 2-4.
An 8-1 run to start the game propelled the Indians as they were up early. The Bobcats then woke up as they went on a 17-0 run to take a 18-8 lead. Contributing to the run were buckets by Samantha Stewart Hailey Ingram, Josiee Sobotka, Jescenia Mosley, Kaylan Larry, a three by Maddy Duncan and free throws by Stewart.
The run would last almost the entire first quarter as the Bobcats took an 18-10 lead at the end of one. The Indians would get within five points early in the second quarter as they trailed 18-13. Then Duncan knocked in a big three to start a 9-2 run.
Olivia Williams made a layup, Natasha Deal (Winnebago Tribe) knocked in two free throws and Duncan had another bucket during the run. Halfway through the second quarter Ingram hit a big three as the Bobcats took a 30-17 lead. The Indians got back within single digits with a 5-0 run of their own as they trailed 30-22.
Haskell would cut the deficit to six after a three with around three minutes in the half to make the score 31-25. Peru State had one more big run to end the half as they went on a 9-2 run to close out the first half after Stewart hit a layup with around 20 seconds left to take a 40-27 lead into the break.
The Bobcats started out on fire out of the locker room as they went on a 10-0 run to take a 50-27 lead. Contributing to the run were free throws by Deal, a three by Deal, a layup by Stewart and a layup and free throw by Mosley.
In the middle of the third quarter the Indians would cut the Bobcat lead to 16 as they still trailed 52-36. The Bobcats closed the third quarter on a 15-3 run as buckets by Stewart helped the Bobcats get out to a 65-39 lead going into the final quarter of play.
The Indians would come out quickly in the fourth quarter with a full court press as they went on a 21-4 run to open the fourth. Haskell had magically cut the lead from 26 all the way down to nine 69-60 with a little over six minutes to play.
Duncan then came up huge with a three to extend the Bobcat lead back out to 12. The Bobcats then extended their lead out to 77-65 after Deal hit a shot from beyond the arc. The Indians would not go away easily as they would come right back with a three as they trailed by nine again 77-68.
Haskell would go on a 9-2 run to cut the lead to five with a little under two minutes to play in regulation. The Bobcats ended up hanging on for an 80-74 win.
Stewart almost had a double-double as she led the way in points with 21 and nine steals. Deal and Duncan trailed behind her with 14 points apiece. Stewart and Sobotka led the way in assists with three each. Mosley led the way in boards with seven.
