CHICAGO - The Saint Xavier women's basketball team beat Indiana-South Bend 69-53 Saturday at the Shannon Center. With the win the NAIA's third ranked Cougars put themselves in second place in the CCAC.
SXU had a relatively tough stretch before the win as they lost to conference rival St. Francis the week before in Joliet. But the Cougars responded with a big win over a good Titan team.
The most impressive aspect of the win was that they did it without point guard Alex Barone, who missed the game due to an illness. The team is clearly not as sharp without her in there. They seem to be less organized, but the defense carried them through Saturday.
Erin Hannemann had another big game, shooting 9-for-11 for 24 points. It didn't seem like she had that kind of a game, but you come to expect these types of performances from her. She quietly gets the job done each night.
Sholanda Young has improved greatly over the last two years. She may be the hardest worker on this team. With Barone out, Marissa Young did a nice job finding open shooters.
SXU is 20-1 and still ranked third in the NAIA. This very well might be the best Cougar team Head Coach Bob Hallberg has ever had. It seems like we say that every year, but it's true.
I do not see SXU losing until Jackson, Tennessee. But nothing matters until then. The Cougars have to put together there best games that week in Mid-March. If they do that, they may not lose a game the rest of the way.
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