The Wildcats are on a three-game winning streak heading into their last bye of the season. They defeated Seattle University 84-62 Thursday night.
Meredith Mayes, sophomore center from Bixby, Oklahoma, led the team in points and rebounds, with 17 and nine, respectively. However, it was a team effort, as four of the five starters scored in double digits.
Breanna Davis, junior guard from Red Oak, also scored 17 points and tallied 5 assists. Davis’ role has increased since the injury to Mia Rivers on Jan. 16. Davis said she has had her team behind her as a motivation.
“My main focus is to play for my team, play for them,” she said. “So like, I just give them basically everything I got.”
Head Coach Julie Goodenough said the momentum from these three wins will be paramount to the team’s success the rest of the season.
“I don’t know why we wouldn’t continue moving forward and playing with a lot of confidence,” she said.
Goodenough added that in order to win against Seattle U, the team would have to play a high level of defense to match the high level of offense it has been playing.
The Wildcats’ defense played very well, forcing 20 turnovers, which then turned into quick offense for the team, scoring 22 points off of the turnovers.
Goodenough said that defense is a team effort, which has been seen in the last few games.
“We have five people playing defense,” she said. “Everybody has a really important role. You’ve got to be able to rotate in help-side or rotate up to steal a pass in the passing lane.”
Davis agreed that having balanced offensive and defensive threats would be important to win this game and the rest of the games this season.
“Keep doing things we’ve been doing,” Davis said. “Don’t change who we are. Keep playing hard on defense, shooting our shots at the three-point line.”
The Wildcats’ three-point shooting was the best it had been all season, with 10-20 for a 50% performance.
Heading into the bye, the Wildcats will continue to prioritize rest and recovery as they take two days off before returning to practice on Sunday to prepare for their next game.
The team will return to action on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. when they play at Southern Utah for the two teams’ second matchup this season.
