Hornets Dominate Scots as Cooper Reaches 1000 Point Milestone

Kalamazoo completely dominated at Alma as they earned their first victory of the season. The Hornets trailed 2-0 before taking a 5-2 lead and never looking back. The largest lead was 22 midway through the second half. Poor free throw shooting allowed the Scots to hang around, but the hot three point shooting of Courtney Kaplan and Briana Hendrix throughout the game put a stop to any significant run Alma would start. Kalamazoo took a 26-16 lead into halftime as they played far and away their best defensive effort of the year.

Five minutes into the second half, Alma cut the Hornet lead to 5 (29-24). Before they could inch closer, Briana Hendrix hit one of the most important shots of the game to stop the 8-3 surge of the Scots. Kalamazoo outscored the Scots 42-36 in the second half to win their first conference game in 781 days and post their largest conference margin of victory since February 12, 2005 (Win over Adrian 74-51).

Junior Courtney Kaplan led the Hornets with a career-high 19 points on 6-8 shooting from the field and 4 of 6 from 3 point land. Kaplans previous career-high was against Albion earlier this year when she posted 18 points on 6 of 9 from three point range. Kaplan currently leads the MIAA in a number of statistical categories (3 point field goal percentage, 3 point field goals made (33) which is 9 more than any other player in the conference, and 3 point field goals attemped. Kaplan is also 4th in the conference in minutes played per game (32.62), 9th in total steals (25), and 6th in assists per game (2.92). Senior Briana Hendrix also stepped up for the Hornets with 14 points and 5 steals. Hendrix is currently 3rd place in the conference in 3 point field goals made per game (1.38) and 6th in steals per game (2.23). In addition to Kaplan and Hendrix scoring, Kelsey Johnson added 4 points and 9 rebounds. In the last 3 games, Johnson is averaging over 10 rebounds per a game. She has grabbed 31 rebounds in the last 3 games. In the first 9 games, Johnson grabbed a combined 31 rebounds. Also stepping up for the Hornets was the entire bench. The Hornet bench outscored the Scot bench 19-12 (Colonius-7 points, Carlsen-6 points, Bedway-3 points, Rosenthal-3 points).

Kalamazoo led in 3 major statistical categories as a team including turnover margin (-5), rebound margin (+6), and 3-point field goal percentage (Kzoo: .474 Alma: .333). Kalamazoo shot 31 free throws compared to only 15 attempts for the Scots.

Cooper Reaches Milestone
Senior Nyemade Cooper became the 3rd player in Kalamazoo College Women's Basketball history to score 1000 points and grab 600 rebounds. Throughout her amazing career, Cooper has posted an average of 11.7 points per game and 7.14 rebounds per game. Cooper is currently in 10th place in scoring in Kalamazoo history. She trails 2008 graduate Kelsey Howell by 9 points for 9th place all time and 2005 graduate Ashley Riley by 29 points for 8th place on the all-time Kalamazoo scoring list. Cooper stands in 4th place in rebounds (607), just 11 rebounds behind 2005 graduate Ashley Riley for 3rd all-time. Cooper is also just one of two Kalamazoo Women's Basketball player's in the history of the program to have won a scoring title (Laura Behling-3 time MIAA scoring champion).

Kalamazoo takes their game on the road against Trine Thursday, January 21st at 7:30. With a win, Kalamazoo will pull into a 4-way tie for 6th place and will be just one game behind Adrian for 5th place (Alma, Albion, Trine). Kalamazoo lost to Adrian in overtime last week 80-70. Kalamazoos next home game is against Albion Saturday, January 23rd at 3:00.