Western’s Erin Steva’s minutes have been bounced around a little bit of late because of the Warriors’ balanced lineup. But on Friday night it was Steva—with a heavy dose of Kelsey Swanson—that carried the Warriors down the stretch to a 49-43 win over William Monroe.
“She did not play that much on Tuesday and what I keep telling this group is that I don’t know who it’s going to be on a given night,” said Western coach Kris Wright. “Erin came in and really made (Katelyn) Roach earn her shots. She started it on the defensive end and then fed on it on the offensive end.”
Steva hit a driving lay-in and drew a foul with less than a minute to play that pushed Western’s advantage to six points and put the game out of reach for the Dragons. The Warriors closed the game on a 9-2 run after trailing 41-40 late in the fourth.
“We beat them on the road, so you don’t want to turn around and give it away at home, you want to get the sweep,” Wright said. “So it’s definitely a big one for us.”
Swanson put the Warriors up 47-43 at around the one minute mark as part of her monster night. The junior point guard made an impact all over the floor with 14 points, four assists, four steals, two blocks and a rebound. Ellen Shaffrey finished with a double double, totaling 10 points and 13 rebounds. Raven Ward had three steals.
Monroe got a nice performance from Roach, a dynamic scoring threat for the Dragons, as the junior knocked home 18 points after a week filled with internal turmoil for the squad.
“We came back together as a team, I told them I couldn’t have been more proud of them if we’d won the game,” said Monroe coach Phillip Lamb. “We had to take care of some inhouse issues and the way the girls responded tonight they showed a lot of character.”
Monroe actually held a two point advantage at the break after Alex Cave hit a bucket near the end of the second quarter. Cave chipped in 11 points while Shawnterica Cochran finished with eight.
The win gives Western a leg up on Monroe in the Jefferson race and matched the Warriors’ district win total from last year less than halfway through the Jefferson slate.
