by Richard Thiberville, Jr., LCU Sports Information
PINEVILLE, La. – The Louisiana Christian University women’s basketball team held the defending Red River Athletic Conference Champions to just 23.6% shooting and Miya McKinney added her fourth double-double in the last five games as the Wildcats upended the LSU Shreveport Pilots 58-46 Thursday night at H.O. West Fieldhouse.
The Wildcats never trailed in the contest and the Pilots only tied the score once, at 2-2. A pair of Claire Borot free throws with 7:14 left in the first quarter gave the Wildcats the lead for good. The lead see-sawed between two and four points for most of the quarter until the very end as DaKayla Howard found Paola Abad Prieto above the arc and Abad Prieto hit a three-pointer to kick off a quarter-ending five-point Wildcat push to turn a 12-9 lead into a 17-9 lead after Howard hit a pair of free throws to close out the quarter’s scoring.
LCU’s run continued into the second quarter as Borot found Noa Fernandez Fuentes cutting to the basket for a lay-up and the first double-digit lead of the game at 19-9. The run capped at 9-0 after Borot found Abad Prieto making the cut to the basket for another lay-up to give the Wildcats their largest lead of the half at 21-9 with just more than eight minutes left before halftime. LCU kept the lead in the eight-to-ten-point range until the end of the period. Claire Borot hit a pair of free throws to give the Wildcats a 25-15 lead with 2:29 left, but the Pilots scored the final four points of the period to cut the LCU lead to 25-19 at the break.
After the two teams traded baskets to open the third quarter, a Kieyoomia Benally (Navajo) jumper sparked a 9-1 Wildcat run to blow the game open. Kayla Kinney capped the run by hitting a shot while getting fouled and converted the ensuing free throw to cap the three-point play and give LCU a 38-22 lead with 3:16 left in the quarter, the largest lead of the game for either team. LSUS tried to answer, hitting back-to-back threes, before Benally beat the buzzer with a three-pointer of her own to re-establish a 13-point lead, 41-28, heading to the final ten minutes of play.
With LCU leading 45-34 with 7:30 left in the game following a lay-up by Benally, the Pilots once again tried to get into the game by hitting back-to-back three-pointers, pulling the Wildcat lead down to just five points at 45-40 with six minutes left. But that run was halted by a Miya McKinney lay-up which was followed by a Kieyoomia Benally three-point play as she was fouled on a made lay-up, to get the Wildcat lead back up to double digits as Benally hit the ensuing free throw. The Pilots made one last go at trying to steal the game from the Wildcats, cutting the deficit down to six points with just less than two minutes left, but it was Benally who delivered the dagger with just less than a minute left as she drained a three-pointer to make it a nine-point game to secure the win.
“This is a great team win,” said LCU Head Women’s Basketball Coach Matt LeBato. “The team was locked in on attention to detail and played well together. I was proud of the way we handled the pressure at the end of the game. We took great shots and controlled the paint, both offensively and defensively. I’m very proud of their effort and togetherness.”
Kieyoomia Benally went six-of-ten from the field, including two big made threes, on her way to a game-high 17 points to go with a game-high four assists on the night. Miya McKinney continued to produce on both ends of the floor, going six-of-nine from the field for 12 points while grabbing a game-high 13 rebounds, her fourth double-double in the last five games. Claire Borot also did her part on the inside, scoring ten points while blocking four Pilot shots. Paola Abad Prieto also filled up the stat sheet with eight points, seven rebounds, and four steals.
LSUS ended up taking 24 more shots in the game than LCU, thanks in large part to 22 offensive rebounds, but the Pilots could only turn all those extra chances into five second-chance points as the Wildcat defense held strong through the long possessions. LCU ended the game at an efficient 45.8% shooting in the contest while holding the Pilots to just 23.6% in the contest. The Wildcats movement helped get shots close to the rim as the LCU outscored LSUS in the paint 34-16. Meanwhile, LSUS was content to just shoot the long ball, taking 34 three-point attempts, nearly half of their total number of shots.
