By Noah Dombroski
Led by a combination of determined veterans and talented freshmen, the Saint Leo Women’s Basketball team toppled Trinity College in a 107-51 blowout, the perfect end to an exciting homecoming day. Although only a preseason exhibition, the Lions demonstrated great skill and teamwork, both promising signs for the regular season this winter. The team’s effort was highlighted by an excellent display of selflessness, with the Lions assisting one another on twenty-six of their field goals, a number more than six times that of their opposition, who only completed four assists as a team. They also turned the ball over eleven times over the course of the entire game, less than half of the twenty-three turnovers of Trinity.
Junior Izabell Skoogh led the Lions in scoring with sixteen points on 55% shooting from the field. Team captain Gina Brierly, sophomore Madelin Lang, and redshirt junior Mary Redman spent the whole game getting their teammates involved, and combined for 14 assists, more than half of the team’s total. Freshman Day Jackson dominated the boards, pulling in nine rebounds in her seventeen minutes of play. Freshman Delaney Bernard ignited the crowd throughout the contest, connecting on three three-pointers on 60% shooting from deep, grabbing two offensive rebounds, and adding a steal and an assist to her stat sheet as well, all in just thirteen minutes on the court.
The only area the Lions performed questionably in was their free throw shooting, making just 64% of their thirty-one shots from the charity stripe. Nothing, however, takes away from the fact that even though it was a preseason game, the Lions broke one hundred points on the scoreboard in a 40-minute contest. Offensively, the team shared the ball, got everyone involved,
and shot and passed much more efficiently than their opposition. On the defensive end, the Lions’ combination of half-court man-to-man and full-court presses left their opponents with minimal open looks; throughout the game, the first-year players seemed to gel effortlessly with their veteran upperclassmen. All in all, it looks like it should be an exciting year for the Saint Leo women’s basketball organization. Make sure to come out and support the team in their first regular-season conference exhibition of the season, a home game against the Florida Southern Mocs on Wednesday, November 15 at 5:30 pm.