The Marian Ancilla Women's Basketball team took to the court Monday night for the first time since November 30th, as they took on Wayne County Community College in Detroit, Michigan. The game was a bit sloppy throughout with the teams combining for 60 turnovers, but the Chargers used defense, rebounding, and the charity stripe to separate themselves from the WildCats, 76-38.
The Chargers set the tone early, jumping out to an 11-0 lead, but WCCC battled back out of a timeout and trimmed the lead to 11-6. Marian Ancilla got to the line early in this one, helping to extend to an 18-7 lead after one quarter. The second quarter saw much of the same, but with added scoring for both teams, and by halftime it was 39-21 Chargers, even though they had already committed 17 turnovers.
In the second half, the ladies took care of the ball a little better, saw more trips to the free throw line resonate in points, and they outscored the WildCats by a 37-17 second half margin, allowing all 12 players in uniform to see quality minutes of action in this one.
Freshman Santana Eubanks was all over the place, scoring 22 points on 9-12 shooting, she collected 8 rebounds for a near double-double, plus she contributed 6 assists and 3 steals in the victory. Freshmen guards Annika Davis (16 points) and Aaliyah Keil (10 points) also found double figures each, while Freshman guard Ciara Bonner was the top scorer off the bench with 7 points, and Freshman guard Karleisha Echols led all players with 4 steals.
Head Coach Ryan Gould was happy to get his team on the court after the long layoff, "it was just nice to see some game action. We had a game December 4th that was postponed due to weather, then we had finals, so we knew this week was going to come quickly with four games in six days. I was impressed with our ability to overcome the high number of turnovers and focus on the defensive end of the floor, especially the boards."
The Charger Women are back in action three more times this week, all at home. Wednesday (tomorrow) they host Henry Ford, with that tip scheduled for 5:30 p.m. at the LifePlex. Thursday, they play a second home double-header with the men against Community Christian. Those games are set for 5:30 p.m. & 7:30 p.m. Then, Saturday, the ladies take on Tri-C (Cuyahoga Community College), with that contest scheduled to begin at 1:00 p.m. Please come out and support the Chargers as they attempt to finish 2024 with three more home wins!!
