Steven Abramo
Staff reporter
The regular season is over for the college’s winter sports. Spring sports, however, begin to ramp up. Here’s what you need to know about all the current sports at the college.
Men’s Basketball ends regular season on high-note, prepares for playoffs
Winners of five-in-a-row, the Cavaliers closed out the regular season with a 61-56 victory over Kansas City, Kan. (KCK) on Saturday, Feb. 23. Four players have averaged double-figures during the team’s win-streak: General Williams (14.6), David Turner (13.4), Nick Larkin (10.8), and Xavier Womack (10.4).
Williams has buried 15-of-his-28 3-pointers (53.5%) in that span. Turner, meanwhile, upped his block-rate to 3.6 per game following a nine-block performance last Saturday. The team heads into this week’s Region VI Division-II playoffs 26-4 and ranked No. 9 in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) poll.
Women’s Basketball puts latest loss in rearview mirror as playoffs approach
A 64-60 setback to KCK in last Saturday’s regular season finale not only dropped the team’s record to 26-4 but snapped a three-game winning streak in the process. Despite the loss, however, the Cavaliers enter this Wednesday’s Region VI Division-II playoff matchup against Fort Scott (16-10) averaging 80.7 points per game (8th most in NJCAA) and a +26.2 margin of victory.
Throughout February, guard KK Jackson-Morris is averaging 15.5 points and 5.9 rebounds per game on 47.1 percent shooting from field and 40.6 percent from three, while forward Jess Myers is collecting 10 defensive rebounds per 40 minutes.
Baseball continues to impress thanks to a number of productive sophomores
After taking three games-out-of-four in the first series of the season, the Cavaliers swept Ellsworth last week to improve their record to 7-1. So far, the team is averaging 11.5 runs per game while holding a +34-run differential in this young season.
The team’s starting rotation has surrendered only 10 earned runs and 24 hits through 41 innings during the first two weeks of the season. The notable starters to mention are right-handers Zachary Ebert and Dylan Bierman, who each share sub-2 ERA’s with a combined 27 strikeouts and only eight walks across four starts.
Additionally, sophomore outfielder Anthony Amicangelo and sophomore catcher Anthony Slaughter continue their hot-streak at the plate. The two lead the team in hits (Amicangelo 12; Slaughter 8), batting average (Amicangelo .545; Slaughter .471) and on-base-percentage (Amicangelo .600; Slaughter .545).
Softball is on losing-end of first series of season
The Cavaliers went 1-3 in the season opening series in Fort Worth, Texas on Feb. 15-16. Their games were against Ranger College, Vernon College, Blinn College, and Des Moines Area Community College. The two standout stars this season have been sophomore right-handed pitcher Kerrigan Dixon and catcher Kerry Murphy.
Dixon has pitched in 16.2 of the team’s possible 27 innings so far this year, yielding only five earned runs while striking out 12. Murphy, meanwhile, is hitting .400 to go along with four hits and four RBIs.
Dance Team finishes up regular season, plans for future events
The Golden Girls concluded their final home game performance of the regular season last Monday, Feb. 18. In addition, the team prepares for several events in the upcoming weeks. The first is a workshop for all high school and college dancers interested in trying out for the Golden Girls on March 24, and the second is the DTU Collegiate National Championship in Las Vegas in the first week of April.