By Mitch Blankespoor
ALBION, Mich. – The Kalamazoo College women's basketball team improved to 2-0 in the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) play Saturday, Dec. 7, with a 56-50 victory over the Britons of Albion College at Albion's Kresge Gymnasium. The win over Albion is K's first in ten years when the Hornets defeated Albion 72-65 during the 2003-04 season.
"We showed tremendous effort on defense tonight," Kalamazoo Head Coach Katie Miller said. "We forced them [Albion] into shots they did not want to take."
Albion took a 10-4 lead midway through the first half on a layup from Oreyana Curry. After the teams traded layups, Kalamazoo closed the half on a 16-6 run spurred by three consecutive layups from senior forward Nicole Antione. The Hornets took a 22-16 lead into halftime.
The Britons scored the first two baskets of the second half cutting K's lead to two points. Antione answered with another basket followed by a three pointer from freshman guard Grace Smith.
After a jumper from Brett deBear, K led 45-37 with 6:14 to play. Smith brought the lead back up to ten with a jumper. K then went 1-2 from the free throw line, but a jumper from junior guard Hannah Maness put the Hornets up by 13 with just over four minutes left in regulation. Albion would get within five points with three seconds left.
Antione and Albion's Darian Payne each totaled a game-high 15 points. Antione also grabbed six rebounds. Junior guard Morgan Overstreet was the other Hornet finishing in double figures with 11 points.
"Nicole [Antione] made some big plays for us on both ends of the floor," said Miller. "She was definitely our leader tonight."
Both teams committed 13 turnovers and both teams had nine assists. Kalamazoo held a slight 45-44 advantage in rebounding. Albion hit 10 free throws compared to just seven for Kalamazoo, but the Hornets shot 39 percent from the field and held the Britons to under 30 percent.
Kalamazoo improves to 2-4 on the season and will travel to Gainesville, Ga., Dec. 14 for a 2:00 p.m. game with Brenau University.