GALESBURG — The Carl Sandburg College women’s basketball team used a 20-point, fourth-quarter run to rally for a 63-54 victory over John Wood on Wednesday night at John M. Lewis Gymnasium in the Chargers’ first game back from Winter Break.
Jordan Price (Fulton, Ill./Fulton) scored a season-best 20 points off the bench and Madison Lowe (Dunlap, Ill./Dunlap) added 18 as the Chargers (5-8) won for the fourth time in five games and avenged a 62-32 loss to the Trail Blazers (3-12) on Dec. 15.
Price scored 13 of her points in the fourth quarter to help Sandburg turn a nine-point deficit early in the period into an 11-point lead with 2 minutes to go. JWCC took a 45-36 with 9:03 to play before Lowe kicked off the game-changing run with her fourth 3-pointer of the night. Lowe added another five points herself before Willow Porter (Wyoming, Ill./Stark County) gave the Chargers a 46-45 lead on a layup with 6:40 to play.
A Price drive, Porter trey and a layup from Price off a feed inside by Lowe highlighted the rest of the run, which left Sandburg up 56-45. The Chargers held the Blazers scoreless for nearly 8½ minutes before Autumn Voigt’s bucket with 1:40 to play.
“It felt like a struggle for us for much of the night, but our defense started to come together in the fourth quarter and we finally hit a few shots,” Chargers coach Mike Bailey said. “Once we got the ball rolling, it just kept going. It was good to see us respond like this tonight after they beat us pretty bad down at their place a few weeks ago.”
Price finished 5 of 10 from the floor and made 10 of 11 from the free-throw line as the Chargers shot 56 percent (10 of 18) from the field in the second half. Lowe shot 5 of 11 and hit 4 of 6 from beyond the arc while adding five rebounds. Porter scored 10 and grabbed a team-leading six boards.
Voigt scored 12 points to lead JWCC and Madelyn Hyer added 11. Chelsea Wood had a game-high 11 rebounds for the Blazers, with 10 coming in the first half.
Sandburg is home again at 1 p.m. Saturday against Loras JV in the opening game of a men’s/women’s doubleheader. The Chargers men’s squad will face Robert Morris-Peoria at 3 p.m.
