The RiverHawks competed against Clark College on Saturday, Jan 20. This was the first home game for the Penguins since the passing of their freshman guard, Gianna Loville. Before tip-off, Clark College honored her and her memory with a moment of silence as Clark players wore patches bearing a “G10” on their jerseys.
The RiverHawks went on to defeat Clark 78 to 41 with a 37 point lead.
This will be UCC’s 18th win of the season making the RiverHawks 18-0.
“You can never expect to be undefeated, there are too many tough teams,” said UCC head coach Dave Stricklin.
The RiverHawks were amazing on defense, only allowing the Penguins to score 41 points.
“Our goal is to holding other teams to 60 points so that we do not have offensive issues,” Stricklin said. They certainly achieved that goal this game.
During the game, viewers may have possibly heard Clark’s head coach state that his team needed to work together.
Noted by the difference in assists (UCC with 17 and Clark at 9) UCC did what Clark needed to do; work together.
UCC had 60 rebounds in comparison to Clark’s 24, 49 of UCC’s being on defense, while the other 11 were offensive. Clark grabbed 18 boards on defense and six on offense.
The RiverHawks were dangerously accurate, shooting 53.8 percent the entire game while the Penguins shot a mere 17.1 percent.
“We didn’t emphasize defense for this game, but we knew we had a size advantage. That is how we have been trying to play by stopping the three. Teams generally have an issues in the paint against us,” Stricklin said.
You can see the RiverHawk’s emphasis on three point defense this game. Clark shot eight for 27 behind the three point line.
Throughout the game, spectators could see that there were some questionable calls for both teams. At one point there was a foul called that made the home crowd boo the referees.
“Sometimes games are hard to officiate. I think that when the score gets like that, officials give them the benefit of the doubt. We are used to it,” said Stricklin.
Merrily Jones for UCC scored 15 points while also recording two blocks, two steals and eight rebounds.
Clark College’s Mailia Aguigui scored 19 for the Penguins and recorded two steals, three rebounds and one assist.