Shawnee State's women's basketball program posted a strong effort en route to cracking 100 points for the second time in three games to start the 2020-21 season as Carson Roney's 21 points and seven rebounds, along with Brandie Snow's 20 points, nine rebounds and seven assists led six double-figure scorers in a 111-62 blowout of Indiana University-East Friday afternoon in Richmond, Ind.
The No. 9 ranked team in the NAIA ranks, who moved to 3-0 on the year with the victory, scored Jeff Nickel's 198th career head coaching victory in impressive fashion by shooting an outstanding 57.9 percent from the field (44-of-76), posting a plus-31 edge in the rebounding column (53-22), and notching 20 assists on its 44 made baskets in the 49-point victory. SSU also went 10-of-23 (43.5 percent) from long range in the win.
Roney gets rolling early
Fueled by another strong outing from Carson Roney, Shawnee State was able to utilize its size advantage in the post in a strong manner throughout Friday's contest.
Roney, a Second-Team All-Mid-South Conference performer during the 2019-20 season, notched 13 of her 21 points in the opening half of competition and finished the contest by shooting a highly efficient 9-of-12 from the floor. The effort was just two points off of her career-high, which was set in last year's double-overtime thriller against Campbellsville when Roney scored 23 points in a 103-101 SSU victory.
Snow stuffs the stat sheet
Much like Roney, Brandie Snow got out to a quick start -- and never looked back.
The junior from Hartville, Ohio posted 12 of her 20 points in the opening half and sprayed in four assists and four rebounds in the opening half to help SSU establish a 50-30 advantage through the first 20 minutes of competition, mainly off relentless attacks at the rim. Snow finished with 20 points, nine assists and seven rebounds on a highly efficient 7-of-10 shooting from the floor.
Her scoring output puts Snow at 957 points for the junior's career, which has the wing player in a tie with Catrice Mitchell for 34th place in Shawnee State history in career points. She sits 43 points away from becoming the 33rd player in the history of the program to hit 1,000 points for a career.
Beasting with balance
Shawnee State's victory, however, was as much about its overall balance as a unit.
Anyia Pride, who hit each of her first three shots in the opening half before sitting due to two early fouls, posted a strong effort, notching 16 points by going 8-of-11 from the floor while adding four rebounds. Fellow post Natalie Zuchowski built on an excellent opening weekend from a stat sheet standpoint by notching 13 points on just six shots, hitting on four of her attempts and going 5-of-7 from the charity stripe.
Behind them, Bethany Mackin notched eight of her 10 points in the opening half by draining two first-quarter threes that proved critical in SSU building its advantage, while Evelyn Oktavec sprayed home all 11 of her tallies in the second half to match her career high set last December against Cumberland (Tenn.), going 4-of-5 from the field and knocking down all threeof her three-point attempts in doing so.
Marnae Holland's nine points and nine rebounds -- including seven points and a team-high six boards in the first half -- also proved to be big in the outcome as SSU's 112 points against IU-East were the most in a road contest since the Bears put up 117 tallies against Life (Ga.) on Feb. 11, 2017 -- a 117-61 victory.
Next Up
With the win, Shawnee State turns its attention to Goshen (Ind.). That contest starts Sunday at 2 p.m. and will be held at Lingle Court in Richmond, Ind. as part of the final day of the First Bank Richmond Classic.
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