Lincoln head coach Nicole Collier admits her team looked a bit flustered during practice leading up to its non-conference basketball game against University of Illinois-Springfield.
And that was somewhat understandable considering the Blue Tiger women had dropped back-to-back games and lost their leading scorer to an injury during a road trip to Oklahoma last week. But despite those obstacles, Lincoln was able to prevail.
The Blue Tigers jumped out to a commanding lead and never let up en route to a 72-47 win Saturday against the Prairie Stars at Jason Gym.
"Not that I thought they had lost their fight for the year, we just had some really bad practices this week," Collier said. "But they really responded. They fought hard today. They fought hard as a group and I was very proud of them."
Kate Frazier scored a game-high 19 points and Hunter Yoakum finished with 18 to lead Lincoln (5-3), which snapped its two-game skid in decisive fashion with leading scorer Kelsey Williams on the bench after suffering a back injury Dec. 6.
"It was a really big win for us because we were coming off a couple of tough losses," Frazier said. "It was good to get our confidence back."
Kayton Cole, Lizzie Nessling and Jasmine Guthrie all chipped in with eight points for the Blue Tigers, who were 27-of-64 from the field and 6-of-13 from beyond the arc after suffering a 69-68 loss to Northeastern State on Dec. 4 and dropping a 93-66 decision to Central Oklahoma on Dec. 7.
"I definitely felt like our Oklahoma trip was a major disappointment," Nessling said. "You could just tell this week at practice, we were down. We didn't expect to lose twice, and lose by that much in the second game. That was a huge blow. We really needed this win."
Illinois-Springfield (4-4) was just 19-of-49 from the field and committed 25 turnovers, 11 more than the Blue Tigers.
"We got out and pressured them," Collier said. "I thought we made them uncomfortable. That was all we were really trying to do, just get up and control the ball."
Lincoln jumped out to an 11-point lead midway through the first half after back-to-back 3's by Nessling and Yoakum. A layup by Guthrie put the Blue Tigers up by 15, but Illinois-Springfield went on an 8-0 run to make it a seven-point game with 4:10 to play before the break.
Frazier got Lincoln rolling again when she pulled down an offensive rebound, converted on a three-point play and followed with a layup in transition to spark an 8-0 run to give the Blue Tigers a 35-20 halftime lead.
"We pushed the ball really well in transition and that was good for us," Frazier said. "We shared the ball really well, too. We always made the extra pass."
Lincoln didn't show any signs of slowing up in the second half.
"We talk about that a lot," Collier said. "We've had some games where we've been up big at halftime, and then give the first five minutes of the second half to them - then we're back into a dog fight.
"We're out to get better. We're out to prove something to people around our league, as well as our non-conference opponents. That was a big thing for us to keep going and keep pushing."
The Blue Tigers led by 19 with 13:31 to play, but Illinois-Springfield went on a 5-0 run to cut its deficit to 14, but that's as close as the Prairie Stars would get.
Lincoln responded by going on a 14-0 surge to take a 62-34 lead with 6:55 to play and the Blue Tigers were able to cruise from there. But despite the lop-sided lead, Lincoln players were still diving for lose balls and going after offensive and defensive rebounds.
"We wanted to put the pedal to the medal and not stop until the last buzzer sounded," Frazier said. "We wanted to make a statement with this game and get our confidence back."
Lincoln claimed a 39-32 rebounding advantage - 15-9 on the offensive glass- while tallying 16 second-chance points and 24 points off turnovers.
"I thought we looked really good in all areas," Yoakum said. "We had a really rough week of practice, so we were kind of nervous coming into the game.
"It was a great win for us to have. It boosted our confidence. We needed it."
Lincoln, which won five games last season, will look for win No. 6 when the Blue Tigers host Washburn, ranked No. 7 in NCAA Division II, at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at Jason Gym.
"I was nervous as far as how long it would take us to get going to show the fight," Collier said. "They showed tonight that the fight is there. We're ready to go.We've got a lot of things to adjust on, but the fight and the heart is the biggest thing for us."
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