Western women and men blowout Newman
By Jacob Meikel
Following signature wins last Saturday, Missouri Western women and men’s programs take care of business against Newman on Thursday night.
With no Johnni Gonzalez in the starting lineup due to illness on Thursday, junior Alyssa Bonilla stepped right into the starting lineup and the Griffon offense would not skip a beat. Bonilla helped keep the fast pace of the offense that the Griffon women are used to. Bonilla was productive in several phases in Western’s trouncing of Newman 108-43. The junior filled the stat sheet with six points, seven rebounds and seven assists along with three steals and one block.
“I thought she played really well. I thought Alyssa played fantastic on both ends,” head coach Candi Whitaker said after the win.
It had been a rough start to the season for last year’s leading scorer for the Griffons Brionna Budgetts. However, Budgetts had been finding her groove the last several games and reached a season-high 16 points on Thursday night. Junior Jayme Jackson said about Budgetts after the game that team’s are shifting their focus to Budgetts every night, but it’s been to the advantage of her teammates.
“[Budgetts] has been a huge part of this league for many years and a lot of teams come in knowing they have to guard Bri. Bri gets a lot of team’s best defenders which sets up a lot of opportunities for the rest of us,” Jackson said.
Missouri Western men came into Thursday night’s matchup at Looney Arena feeling very confident off of its win over Northwest Missouri State for the first win over the Bearcats in over 11 years. While also riding a four-game win streak, they take care of business and don’t offer much hope to a feisty Newman team by defeating the Jets 97-58.
The Griffon men blew the doors off in the first half, shooting 7-12 from three point range and getting them a comfortable 44-22 lead at the halftime break that they would not look back from.
Junior Julius Dixon led the Griffons with 22 points on the night and shot 6-8 from three for his most efficient shooting performance from distance this season.
Both Western women and men will have a day off on Friday and be right back to it for the third and final game of their current homestand when Central Oklahoma comes to St. Joseph on Saturday.
