Storm vs. Christian Faith Center, Part 2

NLC Storm 63 Christian Faith Center 59

In a rematch of last Friday's home loss, the New Life Storm went on the road and earned a hard-fought victory over the Lady Conquerors in Creedmoor by a score of 63-59. The game was very similar to the first meeting between the two teams, an exciting back-and-forth game where neither team was able to pull away, but this time the Storm came up big in the last 2 minutes, coming from behind to win. Christian Faith led most of the first half, but never by more than 6 points, as the Storm stayed within striking distance with tough defense, good ball movement, and some timely outside shooting from Hannah Grace. At the end of the 2nd quarter, the Storm made a surge and took the lead 30-28 on a fast-break basket by Ryan. Both teams started a bit slow offensively in the 2nd half and the Storm missed some good opportunities to build on their lead. Then the Conquerors' star Anastasia Tuset, who came in averaging 24 points/game, got hot, scoring 10 consecutive points to put Christian Faith up by 8. The Storm refused to wilt and fought back to even the game early in the 4th period. The Storm adjusted with good help defense to swarm and contain Tuset, forcing her to take difficult shots or pass off. Offensively, they attacked the basket and drew fouls. The Storm pulled out to a 51-47 lead behind good FT shooting, but Christian Faith retook the lead with a couple of put-backs and their own good FT shooting. With just over 1 minute to play, Anna scored on an assist from Courtney to tie the game at 59. After a Christian Faith miss, Rebecca grabbed the defensive rebound and quickly advanced the ball up the floor, where Anna scored the go-ahead basket off another pass from Courtney. After another miss by the Conquerors, Hannah Grace hit two FTs with 11 seconds remaining to ice the game. Hannah Grace led the Storm in scoring with 28 points, including 5-7 from 3-pt range. Rebecca (13) and Anna (11) joined her in double-figures, while Anna and Daryl pulled down 12 and 11 rebounds respectively.