by OMAHA, Neb. – Just one day after being named the Great Plains Athletic Conference and NAIA Player of the Week, Deaundra Young (SR/Mims, FL) had yet another standout game Wednesday night.
The College of Saint Mary center scored 35 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and blocked five shots to lead the Flames past Doane College 94-77. With the GPAC win, CSM improves to 9-10 in the conference and 15-11 overall. The Tigers fall to 7-12, 15-12.
And while CSM Coach Jesse Flanagan was complimentary of Young – he said perhaps the biggest factor Wednesday night was the play from his bench.
“Dee was outstanding – again,” Flanagan said. “But our bench was also outstanding tonight. Shelby (Allberry), Jamisha (Crawford) and Andrea (Christensen) were huge sparks. We got a lot of help from different players and going forward we’re going to need that.”
Pilar Aldrich (Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska) scored 21 points for the Flames, Crawford and Allberry both finished with eight points and Justice Ross (JR/Gretna, NE) and Payton Everett(JR/Malcolm, NE) each chipped in seven.
For Doane, Heather Broman had a team-high 21 points, while Hanah Barnard and Jenna Nieveen both canned 16 and Shelbi Bittinger finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds.
The Flames jumped out to an early lead and had an 18-12 lead after the opening quarter. By the intermission CSM led 44-35. But the Tigers weren’t about to quit.
Doane rallied in the third quarter and took its first lead at the 4:20 mark. The Tigers outscored CSM 26-24 in that quarter.
“This second half of the year Doane has been awesome,” Flanagan said. “The thing with them is they don’t stop – they keep coming at you. For us to get up by a big margin, then get down by a point and fight back to win is huge.”
The Flames handled Doane’s full-court pressure in the fourth quarter and made clutch free throws to outscore the Tigers 26-16 in the fourth quarter to seal the win.
CSM returns to the court Saturday with a 2 p.m. game against Dakota Wesleyan University. It will be the Flames’ final home game of the season.
