The Stormers women’s basketball team faced Wilbur Wright College on Sat., Jan. 25 and won. For several minutes in the first half, they had a distinct advantage when Wright guard Rise’ Henderson went down hard with an ankle injury that sent her to the bench for treatment. Wright did not have a player to replace her due to only having five players in the gym.
Over aggressiveness on the part of the Stormers, however, prevented them from running away with the game after jumping out to a 34-10 lead. Ten fouls and 10 turnovers marred their first half performance, continuing a pattern noticed by Head Coach Jeff Lorenz. “As usual, we came out in the first half and stumbled our way through it,” Lorenz said. “We just really weren’t there.”
Lorenz decided to substitute all five players at once, an uncommon strategy.  “The first half it was a matter of finding five girls that wanted to play hard. We were just looking for somebody that wanted to step up and play hard. Fortunately for us, we had a couple girls second half that really stepped up.”
The Stormers were bolstered by the offensive mastery of guard Benetta Jones, who battering rammed her way to the hoop and nailed multiple midrange jump shots. Jones finished with a team high 25 points. Disruptive defensive intensity was brought once again by guard Shonnice Vaughn, who recorded five steals and one blocked shot while chipping in 12 points and three assists on the other end.
Stormers’ guard Laterrica Fleming stepped up as well. She is a welcome addition to a team nearing the home stretch. “This is her fourth or fifth game with us so she’s now getting into the mix. She’s an extremely gifted and athletic player. It’s just a matter of her getting comfortable with what we’re doing on the court,” Lorenz stated. Fleming made her case with 10 points, six rebounds, two assists, and a block while leading the team in minutes played.
Slow starting has definitely been a point of contention for Lorenz as his team rounds the corner of conference play. “Second half I think our starting group came out with the proper level of intensity. We got to come out and dictate our game to them and we just didn’t do that.”