Champion Christian stomps depleted Kansas Christian
Heading into the contest with a giant numbers advantage, Champion Christian’s women cruised past Kansas Christian 109-46 at Champion Christian College Sports Complex Thursday night.
The Falcons just had five players available, and the Tigers were able to pull away easily after the game’s first 10 minutes.
“I think it’s nice to have a game like this every now and then because we came off a three-game losing streak and then we had a game we were successful in,” Champion Christian head coach DeAnthony Ellison said. “Just seeing the girls buying in, having good chemistry and actually knocking down shots, that’s been good for us tonight.”
The Tigers scored their first seven points of the contest off Kansas Christian turnovers. Sckiya Banister opened the scoring for Champion Christian with a transition basket before Nay Manning knocked down a deep 3-pointer for an early 5-0 lead.
Destiny Gonzalez capped off the run with a basket in the paint before Brendeja Holloman scored the Falcons’ first points of the game with 7:56 remaining on the first quarter clock.
Champion Christian continued to be too much for the Falcons in the first quarter. Manning found Elisa Gonzalez wide open at the rim after a cross court pass for a 17-12 advantage.
Kansas Christian’s low numbers played right into the hands of the Tigers.
“With the way we like to play, it played a lot into it,” Ellison said. “We’re full court press the whole time. With them having five, obviously it tires them down. With us, we have a lot of depth, so being able to play at a high level in a short period of time helps us a lot because we can roll subs in.”
Champion Christian did exactly that throughout, making multiple substitutions in all four quarters. The Tigers rotated five new players into the contest at the 5:30 mark in the first quarter for their first mass substitution.
While Ellison tends to rotate his players no matter who the
opponent is, the Tigers increased their rotation against the Falcons.
“It was a little more tonight,” Ellison said. “Players that don’t normally see a lot of minutes, they got in, which is great because when your number is called we like for our players to be ready. We normally try to rotate eight to nine deep just so that we’re fresh on the court. So you’re not missing your assignments and you can always give it your all.”
First-year Kansas Christian head coach Gia Ayers has dealt with low numbers all season at the helm of the Falcons.
“That’s been affecting me all season, so it’s not anything new to me,” she said. “If anything, we’ve got to roll with the punches until we can get more people.”
Champion Christian continued to dominate even with the complete lineup change, and Justys Irish-Holmes extended the Tigers’ lead with an offensive rebound and putback for a 22-6 advantage.
The Falcons came alive at the end of the first quarter when Holloman made back-to-back shots in the paint to cut Champion Christian’s lead to 14 points.
The visitors’ momentum continued when Melissah Henderson drained a trey just a few possessions later, and an offensive rebound followed by a basket from Holloman brought Kansas Christian within 26-16.
However, the Tigers ended the opening 10 minutes on a high note when Aaliyiah Clark knocked down a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to give Champion Christian a 29-16 lead heading into the second quarter.
The Tigers took a 54-29 lead into halftime after taking full control of the contest in the second quarter.
“Really and truly I told them in all games, especially with five people, you’ve got to learn how to pace yourself,” Ayers said. “We do too much on offense. Defense you can’t rest. You know obviously that’s defense, but offense that’s really where you can control the pace. So we really didn’t do a good job of sticking with the game plan.”
Champion Christian started the second half on a pass from Destiny Gonzalez to Elisa Gonzalez who finished easily at the basket. Henderson managed to knock down a jumper for the Falcons before the Tigers went on a 15-0 run to extend their lead to 42 points.
Banister started the run with a steal before she drove to the basket for an easy layup. Then Banister struck again, stepping her way past defenders to the hoop for a 62-31 lead.
The turnovers plagued Kansas Christian again, and Imani Honey, a Hot Springs grad, recorded a steal before making a good pass to Elisa Gonzalez for the easy finish. Clark scored the final points of the monster run with a shot in the paint for a 73-31 lead with 3:53 to play in the third quarter.
“It’s funny, we force a lot of turnovers, but we also have a lot of turnovers,” Ellison said. “Tonight was probably the first time we didn’t have a lot of turnovers. Going forward we have to keep it that way and keep pressure and making them force turnovers because we’re really good in transition and fast break points.”
The Tigers went into the fourth quarter with an 82-33 advantage.
Champion Christian closed out the contest with a flurry of 3-pointers. Rebecca Farmer knocked down her trey as the Tigers reached a century on the night.
Ayers said a lot of the mistakes her team made during the contest were basketball IQ mistakes. Moving forward, she wants her team to keep learning about the game of basketball.
“They’re a young team,” she said. “We’re just trying to learn and figure it out. Especially for my first year here. You know, really understanding what the culture I want to bring.”
Irish-Holmes tacked on a long-range shot of her own before Farmer added another 3-pointer for a 106-44 edge. Jaylen Edmonson set the final with yet another 3-point basket for the Tigers.
“I think tonight’s game we can take a lot of just buying in and playing together,” Ellison said. “If we can just get each other to buy in and play together and not play as individuals we’ll have a very successful season.”
Clark led Champion Christian with 14 points, Elisa Gonzalez tallied 13 and Farmer scored 12 points. Destiny Gonzalez, Irish-Holmes and Banister each scored 10 points for the Tigers.
Hollomon led Kansas Christian with 18 points, and Monique Hunt scored 15 for the Falcons.