Sandburg Women Clinch 2nd Straight Arrowhead Conference Title
Aaron Frey
Wednesday, February 15, 2017 10:31 PM
Athletics
Galesburg, IL
GALESBURG — The Carl Sandburg College women’s basketball team clinched at least a share of its second straight Arrowhead Conference title with a 65-40 victory over Black Hawk on Tuesday night at John M. Lewis Gymnasium.
It’s the 13th conference championship in program history for Sandburg (15-8, 6-1), which can take the title outright with a victory at 5:30 p.m. Thursday on Sophomore Night against Illinois Valley. IVCC, which handed the Chargers their lone conference loss, can share the league championship with a victory over Sandburg.
Freshman Maddy Lowe (Dunlap, Ill./Dunlap) had a career night second straight game, scoring a game-best 23 on 9-of-15 shooting, including 4 for 8 from 3-point range. No other Charger reached double figures, but 11 Sandburg players got into the scoring column.
The Chargers racked up 19 steals, two off their highest mark of the season. Sabrina Clay (Galesburg, Ill./Galesburg) had a team-leading five pilfers, while Kierra Williams (Bartonville, Ill./Limestone) and Alivia Cummings (Peoria, Ill./Limestone) each had four steals.
Lowe scored the last five of the first quarter to give the Chargers a 16-12 lead, and Sandburg outscored the Braves (3-19, 0-5) 16-4 in the second, holding them to just one field goal in the period.
Back-to-back 3-pointers from Kassy Caldwell (Washington, Ill./Washington) and Lowe midway through the second ignited a 12-0 run that gave the Chargers their first double-digit lead at 32-15. Sandburg added another 12-point run to open the third quarter, pushing its advantage to 44-16.
“It hasn’t been the most consistent season for us, but we’re starting to hit our stride at the right time,” Chargers coach Mike Bailey said. “These girls deserve to be called champions, but we want to keep that title all to ourselves now. We want to come out Thursday and take care of business.”
The Chargers will honor their five sophomores — Kassy Caldwell, Kara Caldwell, Kassi Henrekin, Morgan Rupert and Sabrina Clay — following Thursday’s game against the Eagles.