Eagles Blow by Builders for First Victory

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Avila women's basketball (1-5, 1-1 KCAC) put together its best overall performance by far in the 2023-24 season to date in the team's conference home opener, stifling Southwestern (0-6, 0-2 KCAC) with strong defense and cruising past the Moundbuilders 68-49 on Saturday afternoon at Mabee Fieldhouse.

It was a matchup of two teams that entered the day with identical records, but the Eagles felt very good about their chance for revenge against a Southwestern team that stunned Avila with a win in Winfield in the teams' only matchup last season. And very early on Saturday, the Eagles were able to dictate terms, cause havoc, force the Builders into bad shots, and ultimately run away with their first victory of the campaign.

Both teams turned the ball over a fair bit, especially early, but Avila was by far the better defensive team: the Eagles shot 45% from the field and limited Southwestern to a dismal shooting day across the board: 24% from the field and 19% from beyond the arc. Historically, the Eagles have been a crew reliant on the three ball, and they shot it fairly well (33%) on Saturday, but Avila outscored Southwestern by 20 points in the paint on this occasion, a big reason for the eventual 19-point win.

Southwestern scored the first point of the game on a free throw about a minute in, but the Eagles converted a miss on the second try into a Hannah Pinkston layup on the other end, and Avila never trailed again. Southwestern never even tied the game again, and Avila started to really pull away in the second quarter: the Eagles led by only five after one but outscored Southwestern by 12 in the second period to build up an insurmountable lead.

Kathleen Stanley was a huge factor for the Eagles in that second period, scoring 11 of the team's 25 points along with four rebounds, two assists and two steals in the quarter alone in her best outing of the season so far. Marlie Wright scored five points early in the third quarter to give the Eagles their largest lead, 45-22, and though Southwestern stuck around down the stretch and kept things somewhat interesting, the final result was never in doubt: Avila won handily, 68-49, to get in the win column in 2023-24.

Christy Wiebe led the Moundbuilders with 15 points and seven rebounds, but needed 12 field goals to get there. Stanley paced the Eagles with a season-high 14 points, six rebounds, five assists and three steals; Pinkston scored 12 with four boards; Anastasia Wright had eight and seven; and Mia Smith had eight points with three assists and three steals.

It won't be long before the Eagles are right back on the Mabee Fieldhouse floor: Avila will turn around and host Cottey College this Monday, November 20, in a non-conference game that will tip off at 5:30 PM. As always, you can watch all the action live on the Avila Sports Network with Joe Van Amburg on the call from Kansas City.