‘Belles rule home court with win over ACU

The ASU Rambelles are now 10 to 7 with a 75 to 64 win over the Abilene Christian Wildcats Saturday.

"It's a good win for us," junior Morgan Youngblood said. "We did a great job of crashing offensive boards, and we had a lot of steals."

Freshman Haylee Oliver had a great game scoring 18 points to lead the team despite shooting just 5-15.

She had five free throws, three 3-pointers, a steal, an assist, and seven rebounds over 27 minutes of playing time, but Oliver said she thinks she needs to improve from this performance.

"I need to improve on my defense," Oliver said. "The girls have been patient with me and are helping me out. I know I make a bunch of freshman mistakes. I've messed up on the rotations and the girls have been helping me out and covering for me, but that's what Coach Brooks has me on now."

Oliver leads the team with 198 points scored, but also in turnovers with 51. She has 11 blocks, 18 steals, and 82 rebounds on the year.

"Gotta love her," Head Coach Sally Brooks said after the game.

Oliver said that she thinks she's gotten better as the season has progressed and Brooks agreed.

"Her minutes were limited at the beginning because she didn't play very good defense," Brooks said. "That's a process. You don't have to play defense and rebound like that in high school. Offense comes naturally to you. Its defense and rebounding that doesn't so she had to learn how to do it and now that she can do it, she can stay on the floor more."

Oliver not only wants to improve on the court physically, but also wants to earn her team's confidence in her during the game at all times.

"By the end of the season I just want to have the trust of all my teammates and they can put the ball in my hands when the game is on the line or in a tough moment in the hard pressure games," Oliver said. "I just want to personally know that I've made that improvement. Just be an all-around better player than I was coming out of high school."

The ‘Belles were tied 33-33 at the half, but pulled away to win by 11 in the second half.

"We continued to play good defense and rebound and we made some shots," Brooks said. "In the first half we shot 29 percent and in the second half we shot 50 percent. It's not rocket science. You make your shots and you win."