The curse of the road has been broken as the William Jewell women's basketball earned their first win of the year on an opponent's home floor with a 68-60 victory at Indianapolis. The Cardinals now stand at 10-11 overall and 6-7 in Great Lakes Valley Conference play.
A three point shot by
Lindsey McCoy at the eight minute mark of the second quarter gave Jewell a ten point lead on their way to holding a seven point advantage at the break at 37-30. Offensively Jewell enjoyed one of the better halves of the season as they shot 54 percent from the field and 40 percent from behind the arc.
In the third quarter, Jewell scored just eight points but managed to still maintain a 45-42 lead heading into the final ten minutes of play. With 6:02 remaining the Cardinals tried to pull away, going up by five on a
Hayden Butler lay up, however the Greyhounds had other plans as they pulled within one at 53-52. A free throw from
Chris Keys gave Jewell a four point advantage before back-to-back lay ups from the Greyhounds tied the game at 56. Over the next 50 seconds, Jewell caught a break as UIndy committed two turnovers which led to four points for the Cardinals to give them a 62-58 lead that they would not relinquish.
Along with taking advantage of the late errors by the Greyhounds, the Cardinals were clutch from the free throw line. After hitting 10-of-15 through the first 39 minutes, Butler,
Katie Finn, and
Maddie Nelson combined to hit all ten attempts over the final 60 seconds to hang on for the win.
The Cardinals showed a balanced offense as Nelson and Finn each posted a team-high 17 points. Nelson also posted her fifth double-double of the year as she also pulled down 11 boards to go along with four assists and four steals. Butler, McCoy, and
Natalie Closser each added nine points while Keys chipped in seven.
Jewell shot 42 percent as a team while hitting a season-high 20 free throws on an 80 percent clip. The Cards forced 19 turnovers for 23 points while committing just 14 themselves.
The Cardinals are back in action on Saturday afternoon at Saint Joseph's College for a 1:00 p.m. tip off.
