Big second half lifts Maranatha Academy

Wednesday, January 7, 2009 12:41 PM CST

The Maranatha Baptist Academy girls basketball team outscored Utica Christian 24-7 in the second half, pulling away from the Defenders for a 41-21 victory in a nonconference game Tuesday.

The win was the first of the season for Maranatha against a Wisconsin Association of Christian Schools opponent.

“We faced our first WACS opponent tonight, hoping for a good game,” Maranatha coach Randy Montgomery said. “It sure didn't look like that early. We were very sloppy with the ball and just couldn't play much defense. The first half was vanilla at best.”

Despite the lackluster performance early, the Crusaders got nine points from senior guard Kristin Morrison in the half and led 17-14 at the break.

“In the locker room at half, the challenge was put down to play good ball for a quarter Š to play the way we know we should,” Montgomery said. “The gals were challenged to put up a 10 point lead by the end of the third. The troops caught fire and performed well posting a 17 point lead holding UCS to just one free throw for the third quarter. I wish we could play like that more often.”

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The 15-1 run in the third put Maranatha in control and the Crusaders (2-3 overall) won for the second time in as many nights.

Senior forward Torey DeLozier had a solid game, finishing with 21 points to go with 12 rebounds. Morrison did not score in the second half and finished with nine points and 11 rebounds.

“We were plus-4 on turnovers and again dominated the boards on both ends of the court,” Montgomery said. “We had a solid second half and won the game going away. We're now off for a week with a chance to work on skill and foul shooting. Hitting 8-for-19 from the stripe is abysmal and needs to be corrected.”

The Crusaders return to action Thursday, Jan. 15 at Berean Christian Academy.

MARANATHA BAPTIST ACADEMY 41,

UTICA CHRISTIAN 21

Utica 8 6 1 6 - 21

Maranatha 10 7 15 9 - 41

Utica Christian (fg-ft-tp) - Steurwald 3-1-7, Jelinek 2-0-4, Me. Roth 2-3-7, Mi. Roth 1-0-2, C. Koenig 0-1-1. Totals 8 5-8 21.

Maranatha (fg-ft-tp) - Morrison 3-2-9, Borchardt 1-1-3, DeLozier 9-3-21, Jonas 1-0-2, Morris 0-2-2, Spencer 2-0-4. Totals 16 8-19 41.

Three-point field goals - MBA, Morrison.

Total fouls - UC 17, MBA 13.

Fouled out - UC, Steurwald.