(Peru, Neb.) – Playing in the Midland Classic, the Peru State College (PSC) Bobcat women's basketball team ran into two strong teams and dropped both contests.  On Friday, the 'Cats fell to Grand View University 86-51 and on Saturday, PSC fell to the tourney hosts, Midland University 98-66.
 
Peru State dropped to 0-3 on the year.  Following the tournament, Grand View stands at 4-1 while Midland improved to 3-1.
 
PSC vs. Grand View University
 
The Bobcats never led in the game as Grand View scored the first bucket, which was followed by a PSC field goal by Amelia Allington (Ashland) to tie it at 19:09.  Just over a minute later, GVU took the lead for good on another two-pointer and never really looked back.  The Vikings led by as many as 21 in the first half before taking a 17-point lead 44-27 into the locker room after the first 20 minutes.
 
Grand View stretched the lead to 20 in the early part of the second half before the Bobcats slowly fought back to cut it to ten points with 15 minutes remaining.  However, that would be as close as it would be for the 'Cats as the Vikings extended their lead to as many as 37 before finishing off the game at 86-51.
 
The biggest difference in the game was that the Bobcats were cold from the field managing to shoot only 26.3% for the game while the Vikings hit 58.1% of their attempts from the floor.  Neither team was particularly good from the three-point range as Grand View hit 30% of their tries while PSC managed to make only 13.3%.  From the free throw line, GVU was good on 73.3% of their 15 attempts while the 'Cats canned 19 of 29 for 65.5%.
 
The Vikings grabbed 47 rebounds compared to 31 for PSC.  The Bobcats only committed 11 turnovers while Grand View committed 19. 
 
Courtney Ward (Bartlesville, Okla.) had a solid game with 18 points, nine rebounds, and two blocked shots.  Ward was perfect at the free-throw line making all ten of her tries.  Also in double figures for PSC was Sydney Young (Omaha) who finished with 14 points, four rebounds, one assist, and one steal.  Allington finished just one shy of double figures with nine points and grabbed five boards.


Game Box Score

 
PSC vs. Midland University
 
Unlike PSC's Friday game, the Bobcats were in it in the first half.  Peru's biggest lead was four in the half while Midland went up by as many as eight before it was tied at 24 with just under six minutes to go in the first 20 minutes.  At that point, the Warriors began to take control as they went to their largest lead of the half at halftime to lead 40-30.
 
The closest PSC would get in the second half was with 19:10 left to go when they cut it to 40-33.  After that point, Midland scored the next ten points to stretch their lead to 17 with just under 17 minutes to play.  On the next play, PSC got another basket, but the 15-point MU lead was as close as the 'Cats would get throughout the rest of the game.
 
Peru State shot better during the game than on the previous night, but Midland even shot better than Grand View had against the Bobcats.  PSC finished the game hitting 24 of 67 field goal attempts for 35.8% shooting, nearly ten percent better than the night before.  The 'Cats were still cold from behind the arc only making two of ten attempts for 20%.  The Warriors shot an outstanding 61.5% canning 40 of their 65 tries, including going four of nine from behind the line for 44.4%.  Both teams shot well from the free throw line as Midland was 14 of 18 for 77.8% and PSC was 16 of 22 for 72.7%. 
 
Again, the Bobcats were outrebounded as the Warriors had 39 boards compared to PSC's 32.  The turnovers were dead even at 22 as were the blocked shots at three each. 
 
Ward took game-high scoring and rebounding honors.  Ward put in 25 points and grabbed 13 rebounds.   Ward also blocked two shots and had two steals.
 
Young and Jasmine Tate (Fayetteville, N.C.) each finished with 12 points.  Young had five assists and one steal while Tate added three assists and one steal.


Game Box Score

 
Upcoming Games
 
The Bobcats will be at home on Monday evening hosting the Columbia College (Mo.) Cougars at 5:30 p.m. in the Al Wheeler Activity Center.  The Cougars were pre-season ranked 18^th in the NAIA Division I polls.  Last year the teams split a pair of games, each winning on their home courts.
 
On Nov. 18 and 19, the Bobcats will travel to Deerfield, Ill., to play in the Trinity International University Tournament.  On the 18^th, the Bobcats will play the tourney hosts at 3 p.m.  Saturday, PSC will play the University of St. Francis (Ill.) at 2 p.m.