This Week In Warrior Athletics

December 18, 2006

EVENTS: 

Women’s and men’s basketball doubleheaders: vs. University College of Fraser Valley, Wednesday, Dec. 20, women-6 p.m.; men-8 p.m., LCSC Activity Center; vs. University College of Fraser Valley, Thursday, Dec. 21, women-6 p.m.; men-8 p.m., LCSC Activity Center.

Teddy Bear Toss – During the halftime of both games on Thursday, fans are asked to bring and throw new stuffed animals onto the court, which will be swept up and donated to the Northwest Children’s Home. 

Women’s basketball: 

The Warriors return to action after 10 days between games, only to face a UCFV team that’s been on even a longer break.

LCSC, 10-1 on the season and ranked eighth in the NAIA, took a couple of days off to rest and study for finals during its break after defeating George Fox on Dec. 9. Finals week at LCSC began Monday and will continue through Thursday. After Thursday’s game, the Warriors will break for Christmas and then return early next week to prepare for two doubleheaders (men and women) against Bethany University of Scotts Valley, Calif., an NAIA Division II school.

Fraser Valley, which is from Abbotsford, British Columbia, hasn’t played since Dec. 2 because of finals and the Christmas break. The Cascades are 10-8 overall and are 4-7 in the Pacific Division of the Canada West Universities Athletics Association. UCFV won its first two league games, then lost its next seven, and won its final two games before the break.

Fraser Valley and LCSC have one common opponent in Simon Fraser. The Warriors defeated Simon Fraser 72-70 two weeks ago, while Fraser Valley lost on the road to the Clan 102-44 and 74-44.

LCSC coach Brian Orr says the focus of the two games this week will be on improving.

“This week’s games give us a great chance to concentrate on developing our strengths as a basketball team and to improve our overall execution on both ends of the floor,” he says.  “One of our primary concerns is to stay focused on the task at hand.  Having games during finals week is not the best scenario but at least we are playing at home.

“We also need to guard against any let down, and to make sure we don’t go on Christmas break until after the game is over Thursday night.”

The Warriors feature a balanced attack with five players averaging better than eight points a game. Aundrea Morrison, the Frontier Conference’s Player of the Week last week, is leading the team in scoring at 15.9 points per game and also is averaging 5.9 rebounds. Ashley Baker is at 14.6 points and a team-leading 7.3 rebounds, while Janeen Nelson is at 12.2 points.

Jade Fulbright has a team-high 29 steals, while Katie Hart has 66 assists this season.

As a team, LCSC is hitting 47.5 percent of its shots from the field while holding opponents to just 40.1 percent. 

Men’s basketball: 

With four victories their last five outings, the Warriors look to keep rolling against the Canadian visitors.

LCSC brings a 7-4 mark into the contest and is coming off an impressive defensive performance during a 63-47 win over Biola last Friday.

Fraser Valley is hoping to regain its early season form when the team started off 7-2 before entering league play. It won its first two league games, but has since lost its last 11 to stand 2-11 in league and 9-13 overall.

“Fraser Valley moved into the league with UBC (University of British Columbia), so they will be pretty good,” LCSC coach Tim Walker says.  “They played us tough in both games last year.  They are well coached and physical.  Playing a team back to back is no easy thing to do, so we’ll have our work cut out for us.  We need to make sure that with finals and the holiday coming that we don’t go on vacation too soon.  These games are big games if we are to build some momentum and consistency for the future of our team.”

The Warriors will be without two players for the game, one for the rest of the season and the other out for an indeterminate amount of time. Stephen Ward, a senior, suffered two tears in his meniscus, which will sideline him the rest of the season. Ward saw action in the first four games before suffering the injury. Karl Stedman, a junior, is out indefinitely with two stress fractures in his lower back.

Keith Scarbrough is one of six LCSC players to see action in all 11 games this season, but is the only one to start all 11. Mike Gordy continues to lead the team in both scoring (16.7 points) and rebounding (5.7), while Teran Lee also is in double figures at 12.1 points. LCSC then has six players averaging between 5.6-7.6 points.

The Warriors have used a stingy defense to disrupt their opponents. LCSC is allowing only 61.1 points per game and opponents are shooting only 41.4 percent from the field and 31.6 from the 3-point line.

“Coming off the weekend, we thought our kids did a nice job of defending Biola,” Walker says.  “They had some big kids that had dominated some games, but we kept them from getting catches and that was the difference for us.

“We need to find our stride on the offensive end and get polished up a bit.  That will come by getting everyone healthy again and we’ve got two weeks now that we can devote to the offensive end of the floor and build some consistency in that department.  We will always work on defending better until that is a habit, which we are getting close to.”