DALLAS, Texas – The Dallas Christian College women's basketball team won its home opener, 71-63, over North American University on Friday afternoon. For second-year head coach
Larry Tidwell, it was his second victory to in his first countable game of the season. A well-recruited group was on display as the 11 players featured five newcomers. This included strong performers
Faith Salinas,
River Romine, and
Amber Covington. There were also reliable results from
Keiarra Rivers, McKayla Washington, and
Taylor Brokenberry out of the returners.
Washington ended up scoring a game-high 16 points. Rivers and Salinas also eclipsed double-digits in points with 11 and 10, respectively. That duo notched double-doubles with each hauling in 12 rebounds apiece. Romine was able to round out the quartet of double-digit scorings for the home side with 10 points.
Salinas was pleased with her debut after the transfer had not played in recent years.
"This is my first real season back in two years," Salinas stated. "It is great getting back on the court where it is a home with a coach that believes in me and a team that is behind me."
Salinas feels right at home with her new team too.
"They trust you with the ball so having that confidence behind me boosts me up and lets me know when I have the ball it is okay to shoot and that fuels everything else."
Brokenberry was the team leader in boards with 15 and nearly had a double-double of her own with nine points. Covington grabbed eight rebounds, as DCC had six players with at least five contribute toward the 66-36 advantage. This was also aided by 30 offensive rebounds that helped generate 19 second chance points. The Crusaders also held a 32-20 advantage on points in the paint.
"A lot of that is fueled by coach himself," Salinas credited when speaking on the physical toughness the team showed. "[Coach] makes it a point in practice every single day to remind us that we usually are going to be the smaller team. We do not have a lot of height. So as far as rebounds go we are going to have to work twice as hard then the team that is against us. It is already instilled in us by coach that we will have to work super hard for those rebounds."
DCC also shared the ball well with a 16-9 edge in assists, with five players with multiple ones. Covington dished four helpers, while
Courtnee Locke and Romine had three each.
The Crusaders jumped out to an 11-5 lead in the first quarter, but North American answered back as the teams finished tied at 16 after a complete stanza. The Stallions largest lead was 16-13 with 47 seconds left, and then a trey by
Micayla Havard knotted things for the final scoring play of that frame.
The second quarter started with the teams trading a pair of points, but DCC never trailed the remaining 30 minutes of those three stanzas. Deadlocked at 20 points, Brokenberry split at the free throw line, Salinas hit a jumper, and Rivers sprinted for a fastbreak layup after Romine had swiped a steal. After Kiara Green-Hill stopped the scoreless streak at 5:56 for NAU, it was five more points thanks to a basket by Rivers and triple by Washington to open the largest lead for DCC at the time with eight. The Crusaders would lead by nine, 39-30, at intermission after outscoring their opponent 23-14 in the quarter.
DCC grew its lead to double figures right away at the start of the second half, with Rivers poking a steal and finding Washington for a layup. At 8:04 left, a triple by Victoria Moore cut the Stallions deficit to eight, but Rivers responded on the next play with a mid-range jumper to help DCC lead in double-digits the rest of the quarter. There was a 6-0 run for the Crusaders from 3:21 to 1:10 left in the frame that opened their largest lead of the game at 17. Brokenberry scored four of the points with two free throws and then a layup after
Naiya Brown had an offensive board and passed for the assist. Brown also a jumper for the two points between on that small run. The Crusaders held a 17-10 lead on the scoring in that quarter and seemed in control of the game.
After the lead in the fourth was cut to 11, the Crusaders did work to build the margin back to 17 (64-47) with about five and a half minutes left in the game. When the score had reached 56-45, Brokenberry cleaned up a missed three-pointer for the offensive putback. Romine created her own points with a steal and open layup. Salinas had a block on the next play to stall the Stallions momentum. The guests got the next points a few plays later, but a layup by Washington after Locke's second steal of the game pushed the lead back as far as it would go. DCC's offense went cold from that juncture, as the Stallions rallied to an eight-point deficit with 2:40 remaining thanks nine straight points that included five free throws. The Crusaders had committed four turnovers in that span, which did come as one weakness to improve on after making 28 overall. A trifecta by Rivers ended the dry spell, and the Stallions never came closer than eight the rest of the way, which would be the final line.
"Coach always tells us how you practice is how you are going to play," Rivers stated about the team's ability to execute throughout the game."
Dallas Christian had its scheduled game on Saturday with Calvary postponed and moved to December 6 at 12 p.m. The next time DCC's on the court will be Monday, November 15 versus Texas Christian College at 6:30 p.m. Later that week on Nov. 18-20 will be the DCC Thanksgiving Classic, which will have the full schedule released soon.
Coach Tidwell's Comments:
"We will takes this hard fought win and learn from it and the game plan is to keep getting better. I really liked our intensity on the boards as we out rebounded them by a 30+ margin and that was a huge factor in the win. Our old nemesis of turnovers continues to haunt us and for us to be successful, we have to take game of the ball. And we have to finish at the rim in traffic after grabbing those rebounds. We have to play physical and fierce!"
"Dallas Christian educates and mentors students to be people of influence engaging in their calling to the work of Christ in the church and in the world."
