Sophomore Forward Sharon Houston Establishes New School Record, Career High 43 in Win

A recent late season skid put the Lady Redhawks in a must-win situation on Saturday in a pivotal USCAA/A.I.I. matchup with Marygrove according to Head Coach Ryan Shelton. "Injuries and 6 games in 12 days caught up with us, we challenged the girls to re-establish ourselves going into the final 3 weeks of the season asking them who was going to "own this game" and they responded."

The RedHawks responded to the tune of a 77-61 key win over Marygrove College (Detroit, MI). The game was never in doubt and the score was a true indication of how the Lady Redhawks dominated the game. IU Northwest jumped out to an 11-0 lead to start the game and led by as many as 27 late in the second half before cruising to their 14th victory of the season.

The RedHawks and sophomore forward Sharon Houston certainly "owned it" Houston exploded for a new school record and career high 43 points on 20-28 from the floor while adding 19 rebounds and 7 blocks in the game. Houston broke her won school record of 40 set just two weeks ago in win over Judson. "We put ourselves into a tough spot recently, but we needed this game against another good USCAA/A.I.I. Conference team, everyone responded. Sharon had one of those special, signature performances that few players are capable of. We want to get the ball inside to her, however we have been relying on her too much, we stressed passing the ball that will find other players open for shots as well as getting the ball to Sharon with better space where its tougher to double her. It wasn't a perfect night we turned it over way too much and missed a ton of free throws (6-23), however I felt we played very well in all other phases of the game, the coaching staff was very satisfied" said Shelton.

Better shot selection and passing allowed the RedHawks to shoot a solid 42% from 3-point range (5-12) and 51% from the floor for the game with sophomore guard Juliette Keller connecting on 3 triples in the second half. The Redhawks No. 2 scorer shrugged off a sluggish first half (1pt.) before finding the rhythm in the final 20 minutes with 11 second half points. "Jet did a nice job of adjusting in the second half and playing the nice 2-man game with Sharon that we have wanting to see more of. It was good to see that and Kymmie played a great game as well" added Shelton. Sophomore forward Kym Daniels making just her 2nd start of the season stepped in for an injured Jenelle Kapelinski and grabbed 10 rebounds to go with 6 points and 3 assists.

"It was a true team effort today, we needed this game and we got, it's been a tough couple of weeks with so many games in a short period of time, playing shorthanded, however we're back on track and we can take a couple of days to rest and get ready for Andrews on Thursday" added Shelton. The Lady RedHawks are back in action this Thursday at 5 pm at the IU Northwest Savannah Center as the opening game of a men's/women's doubleheader with Andrews University with the men's game tipping at 7pm.