November 14, 2023 | by Ashley Nerat

LEAD

CARLINVILLE, Ill. -- In a game that came down to the final seconds, Maranatha pulled off a 73-69 victory over Blackburn College to record their first win of the season. 

Katelyn Brown and Kyria Teachout led the game, each finishing with a double-double and earning individual career-highs in points with 35 and 23 respectively. Both finished with 10 rebounds on the night. 

OVERVIEW

• Result: Maranatha 73-69 Blackburn
• Venue: Dawes Gymnasium - Blackburn College
• Location: Carlinville, Ill.
• Attendance: 100
• Records: MBU (1-2), BC (1-2)

STORY

Maranatha started out with high energy on defense, earning multiple stops and forcing a couple of turnovers. But while they received multiple chances to take an early lead, the Sabercats failed to connect in the first few minutes. The score remained 0-0 for the first two minutes of the game before Blackburn's Ella Wilson hit a jumper to break the ice. 

Kyria Teachout immediately answered back with a lay-up which got things started for the Sabercats. Maranatha snatched a lead that they were able to hold onto for the rest of the first quarter, which ended with a score of 19-16.

The second quarter was the one Maranatha would like to forget, as the Sabercats failed to get bodies on their defenders and allowed the Beavers to get seven o-boards in the quarter. The points scored in the second quarter ironically were a mirror image of the first. But this time it was Blackburn scoring 19 and Maranatha with 16, making the game all tied up at 35 going into halftime.

The locker room talk stirred something in Teachout who came out carrying the team on her shoulders in the third quarter. Scoring 13 of Maranatha's 26 third-quarter points, Teachout sparked some energy into her teammates both on the court and on the bench. Maranatha continued to play with everything they had, earning their biggest lead of the game at 50-41. 

But the Beavers would not let up and continued to stop Maranatha from going on any big runs. With just seven seconds left in the third, Blackburn had the opportunity to close their deficit to just two points. But a missed jumper opened up a door of opportunity for freshman Paige Joiner who grabbed the rebound and ran the entire length of the court with five seconds left, to finish with a layup at the buzzer. (61-55 MBU).

The Sabercats were ten minutes away from a victory and the excitement was growing. The team turned to fifth-year returner Katelyn Brown who had been keeping Maranatha in the game all night. Brown continued to drive to the hoop earning a number of layups and free throws, keeping the lead in Maranatha's possession for much of the final quarter.

But with just under two and a half minutes to go in the game, Blackburn tied things up 69-69. As the time ticked down to under a minute the Sabercat bench was sweating bullets as they watched Brown fight for her life under the basket. After missing one shot, getting her own rebound, missing the putback, and getting her own rebound again... Brown found success in her third attempt and gave Maranatha the go-ahead with just 30 seconds left of play.

The nerves on both ends were soaring as both teams used the rest of their timeouts in these final seconds. All Maranatha had to do was get one more stop... and that's exactly what they did. The Beavers were forced to foul Brown who sunk both free throws, which sealed the game for the Sabercats. Maranatha finished the night with a 73-69 victory, earning them their first win on the season. 

--

Maranatha Starters: 4-Steuerwald, 5-Ureke, 10-Joiner, 13-Teachout, 25-Brown

STATS

• Box Score
• MBU: shot 41 percent from the field
• BC: shot 36.2 percent from the field
• Brown^: 35 PTS*, 10 REB
• Teachout^: 23 PTS*, 10 REB, 3 STL, 3 BLK
• Joiner: 9 PTS, 5 REB, 4 AST
• Steuerwald: 4 PTS, 7 REB, 3 AST, 4 STL
• Last time: Maranatha fell to Blackburn 31-65 last season on November 8, 2022
• Series: Maranatha now trails the series against Blackburn 0-1

*Career-High::^Double-Double

OPPONENTS

• Blackburn competes in the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (NCAA-DIII)
• Blackburn finished the 2022-23 season with a record of 2-24
• Allen Dehority is in his first year as the Blackburn Women's head coach

NEXT

The Sabercats return to Watertown for their home opener against NCCAA Midwest Region rival Emmaus Bible College on Thursday at 4:00 P.M. Follow at mbusabercats.com/schedule.