HOLLAND, MI - Tonight the women's basketball team of La Roche University took to Hope College to compete in round one of the NCAA Division III tournament. After hanging with a team that was predicted by analysts to go to the sweet sixteen, the Redhawks unfortunately could not hang on in the final quarter.
In the first period, and the two after La Roche were right with the Flying Dutch; the Redhawks were only down by two going into the second period. Ayanna Mazyck had eight of her 16 total points in the first quarter.
LRU had what the commentators described as "scrappy defense", and that defense was what was keeping them in the game. The team wasn't just playing good offense, but also forcing stops at the most opportune points, leading them to go into halftime down just six points; a two possession game.
The Redhawk defense forced a normally cool and calm Flying Dutch team into 12 turnovers. La Roche took those hard earned turnovers and turned them into 12 points. Head Coach Kam Gissandanner had this to say about the La Roche defense. "I think it came down to heart. I don't think that anyone can question the heart that La Roche women's basketball has. It was a want; it was a will to get stops."
In the third period, LRU still stayed hand in hand with the top ranked Flying Dutch, but things were starting to slip. Danajah Sanders took it upon her own shoulders to push through the scoring block and went on an 8-0 run by herself. "I just attacked. I had to keep my energy up to keep my team up, so I just attacked," said Sanders. She collected a total of 18 points in tonight's contest. Sanders also collected the highest amount of rebounds with five, and steals with three.
In the fourth quarter is where the Redhawk team started to come apart. A combination of miscommunication of switches, straying away from the game plan, and running out of gas was the fital formula that let Hope break the gates wide open, and a game that had never gone beyond a 10 point lead, suddenly had the Redhawks losing by 32 points.
"I'm proud of my group for the fight that they showed because lot of teams are coming down 20 just because they played Hope. I was just proud that we stood up for a challenge, and we gave them all we had for the first three quarters," said Gissandanner.
In the post game interview, senior Ayanna Mazyck was asked what she hopes her teammates take away from her captaining the ship during her senior season.
"I just hope the freshman and the sophomore really just take from my game to have heart; be unstoppable on the court. I just hope that they continue to have that aggression every time they step out onto the court," said Mazyck.
That's a wrap for the La Roche women's basketball team for this season, but don't me too upset, before you know it they'll be back in action at Coach Scott Lang Court before you know it.
