Friends Athletics
Levi Convirs, Sports Information Director
York, Neb. – The No. 21-ranked Friends University Falcons jumped out to a big lead and never looked back in routing the York College Panthers tonight 83-48 (Dec. 9) in York, Neb.
The Falcons now move into a three-way tie for first place in the KCAC with Sterling College and No. 14 Tabor College following Tabor’s upset loss tonight at home to Bethany College.
Following last Wednesday night’s (Dec. 6) one-point survival victory over McPherson College, the Falcons made sure there’d be no drama in this outing by charging out of the gate with a 14-2 lead midway through the opening quarter.
Five straight points from Daija Styles (JR/Carrollton, Texas) helped the Falcons build a 21-4 lead at the end of the first quarter before a three by Lexi Evans (JR/Austin, Texas) extended the lead to an opening-half high of 33-10 at the 5:56 mark.
The Panthers though regrouped and outscored the Falcons 16-7 the rest of the half to come within 40-26 at the break.
In the third quarter, the Falcons slammed the door shut defensively, beginning the period with the first 19 points to balloon the advantage to 59-26.
York didn’t score in the quarter until the 4:34 mark and Friends went on to a 37-point lead of 69-32 going to the fourth.
The Falcons coasted through the final period, taking their biggest lead of the night when a bucket from Alex Mulinax (SO/Fort Worth, Texas) made it 79-40 with 4:19 left.
Evans hit five threes to lead the Falcons (8-4, 6-1 KCAC) with 15 points and once again was a terror on the defensive end, recording a career-high tying six steals for the fourth time this season.
Yowana Posey (SR/Chicago, Ill.) scored 14 with five steals and four assists, while Makenzie Vining (SR/Caney, Kan.) added 12 points on four made threes. Vining and April Quiroz (SR/El Paso, Texas) each pulled down a team-high five rebounds.
Betty Akathiotou (SR/Nicosia, Cyprus) dished out a career-best eight assists for Friends along with six thefts.
No Panther reached double-figure scoring, with Sarah Shafer scoring a team-best nine points for York (4-9, 1-6 KCAC).
As a unit, this was the best defensive performance of the season for the Falcons, limiting the Panthers to only 28.6 percent (18-of-63) from the field, the lowest opposing field-goal percentage of the season for Friends.
The Falcons also stifled the Panthers into shooting only 13.6 percent (3-of-22) from three-point distance, while forcing 28 miscues that resulted in a 37-13 edge in points off turnovers.
Friends will next return home and host Kansas Wesleyan University next Tuesday evening (Dec. 12) at 6 pm inside the Garvey PE Gymnasium.