Women rebound with two straight wins

By Jared Bell
IV Leader Sports Editor

    When IVCC women’s basketball coach Steve Crick started the season, he did not know what to expect from his inexperienced squad.
    But what’s he received has even surprised him.
    As of Nov. 14 the team stands at 3-2, but Crick feels that his team could realistically be 5-0 at this juncture.
    “Things are coming together better than I anticipated,” Crick said of his team’s start. “We’ve been so tough defensively, and I thought that might be a weakness. The last two games in particular we have played real.”
    A big reason for the team’s start has been the play of freshman Markita Barnes and sophomore Tiffany Leonard. The tandem has provided much of the Eagles offensive output this season and together they lead the team in a number of offensive categories.
    “Markita has been leading us with around 23 points per game,” Crick said. “I don’t know if she is still, but she at least was leading us in rebounding, assists and was second in steals; so, she is doing it all. And Tiffany has really played well the last couple of games.”
    Freshman Amanda Dougherty has filled a void in the post that was very much a question heading into the season. Even though Crick expected contributions from Dougherty, he said she has surprised him thus far with her play.
    “Amanda Dougherty has been a big surprise,” Crick said. “There have been a couple of games where she scored around 15 points and had double-digit rebounds, and we weren’t expecting that at all – or at least this early in the season. She has been a huge, pleasant surprise for us.”
    The team started their season with a heart-breaking loss to Danville. They held a XX-point lead at half, but ended up losing the lead and the game, falling 79-76.
    The game was all Barnes as she led IVCC with a team-high 40 points – including 24 point from beyond the arc – while grabbing a team-high eight rebounds. Leonard was the only other player with double-digit points as she added 10 to gowith a team-high five assists.
    “That was a winnable game,” Crick said. “Unfortunately, it was the Markita Barnes Show that night and we really didn’t have anyone else that did much scoring.”
    The team rebounded winning their second game over Waubonsee 61-58 after overcoming around a 10-point second-half deficit.
Leonard led the charge scoring 19 points, while Dougherty added 13 points and grabbed 15 rebounds. Barnes chipped in 13 points.
    “That game we trailed by about 10 points fairly late in the game,” Crick said. “There was about five, six minutes left in the game and we went on a real nice rally. We just started shooting well, making our free throws and getting some defensive stops. The hot shooting ended in their next game against Madison Tech as the team went cold from the floor, losing XX-XX.
Barnes once again led the way, scoring a team-high 32 points and grabbing seven rebounds. Sophomore Lisa Ghighi added 13 points and six rebounds, while Leonard also contributed seven boards.
    “That game we just shot very, very poorly,” Crick said. “They have a good team and Madison Tech upset Carl Sandburg, which is the No. 2-ranked team in the country, the day before. So there good.”
    The team has since rebounded winning two straight. They avenged a loss last year to Joliet with a 70-62 win this season.
The team received a balanced attack as Amanda Dougherty added a team-high 16 points, while Tiffany Leonard chipped in 14 points and sophomore Danielle Speed added 10 points. Dougherty grabbed 11 rebounds.
    “Joliet slaughtered us last year and they went nationals,” Crick said. “We just shot real well the second half and, again, it was just a real good defensive effort.”
    The squad picked up another win on Nov. 12 as they overcame a six-point halftime deficit by putting up 46 points in the second half to win 76-66.
    The usual suspects carried the bulk of the load as Barnes totaled 24 points and snatched eight rebounds, Leonard chipped in 22 points and eight assists and Dougherty added 15 points and six rebounds. Ghighi contributed seven boards.
    “I’m sure we were the underdog in this game …but the second half I thought we just played our best half of basketball of the season. We just didn’t turn the ball over, we rebounded and played defense and it was just a very pleasant second half.”