Posted: Feb 04, 2012
OLATHE, Kan. - Sammie Gathercole tied a season high in scoring with 20 points to lead Central Methodist to a win at No. 20 MidAmerica Nazarene on Saturday at the Cook Center. The Eagles (12-10, 9-3 Heart of America Athletic Conference) end the Pioneers (17-7, 10-2 HAAC) 11-game winning streak and move within one game of first place in the league standings.
Gathercole hit two three-pointers in the early going to give the visitors a 12-8 advantage 4:30 into the game. Central Methodist, which�never trailed in the contest,�made three of its first five three-point attempts. Brittney Lloyd found Towanda Sutton in the paint to give the Eagles a 25-18 upper hand with 5:25 left in the first half.
A Raylyn Nuss field goal with 1:24 on the clock gave the visitors their largest lead of the first half, 33-28. Lloyd concluded the first-period scoring with two free throws, and Central Methodist led 35-29 after the first 20 minutes of play. Gathercole netted�12 in the first half to lead all scorers.
The Eagles opened the first 3:09 of the second half on a 9-2 run. Gathercole started the spurt with a made shot from behind the arc. A Sami Dunger bucket made the score 44-31 with 16:51 left in the game.
Central Methodist led by double digits for the majority of the second half. The Pioneers trimmed the deficit to as little as four points, 56-52, with�8:56 on the clock after a Navia Palu bucket, but Gathercole nailed a three in transition as part of a 7-0 spurt to push the�Eagles' upper hand back to double digits,�63-52.
Nakia Robinson, who finished the game with 17 points, hit two free throws for Central Methodist to give her team its largest lead of the contest, 78-64, with 16 seconds left.
Gathercole finished the game 7-of-9 from the field and 5-of-6 from behind the arc. The five made treys were a season high, and the seven�made field goals tied�her season high.
Sutton added 11 points in the victory. Sutton and Karli Abbey tallied five rebounds apiece.
Kristie Tiegreen and Daria Sprew each scored 14 points to lead MidAmerica Nazarene. Kiley Herold followed up with 13. Tiegreen also had 11 rebounds.
The Eagles hit 7-of-11 shots from distance, while the Pioneers were only 3-of-20 from three-point range.
Central Methodist will travel to Graceland on Thursday, Feb. 9. Tipoff is set for 5:30 p.m.
