Woman coaches Bearcats to 95-92 win
Crystal Guiot
Issue date: 2/3/10 Section: Sports
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Again facing adversity without the head coach, Jeff Guiot, and playing against Missouri Southern, the Bearcats rallied and came together for a key victory.
Tina Guiot, the assistant coach, took over head coaching duties due to the absence of head coach Jeff Guiot, who sick with the flu. This is the first time on record a woman has coached a men's team to victory in SBU's history, and certainly a rarity in all of men's athletics. This is not the first time Tina Guiot has filled in for her husband, as she coached much of the second half in the game against Fort Hays earlier this year.
When asked about filling in as head coach Tina Guiot responded with, "Good teams can coach themselves."
The Bearcats also overcame the loss of their leading scorer and rebounder very early in the game, as Matt Rogers was injured for the remainder by a knee injury with 13 minutes left to go in the first half. He left the game with only two points, but that was enough to place him fourth in the all-time career scoring for the Bearcats.
The extent of Rogers' injury is unknown, and so is his return.
In response to Roger's absence, Kurtis Koenig showed the crowd the beast that has been stored away all season by playing the best game of his Bearcat career. The lefty from Minnesota was instrumental in the Bearcat victory as SBU fell behind by as many as 11 in the first half. SBU came roaring back to take a small lead at the end of the first half.
In the second half is where Koeing came alive with 16 of his game high 20-points including two vicious dunks, with great passes coming from Tomas Brock, and an alley-oop from Ryan Dougherty.
The Bearcats would push the lead to 18 with a little more than five minutes to go. However a scrappy Missouri Southern team would not die.
The Lions kept making quick baskets and fouling to prolong the game. SBU uncharacteristically missed their free throws shooting a depressing 52.4% in the second half. The Lions closed the game to two before Ryan Dougherty hit one of two free throws to make the lead three. The Bearcats played some excellent defense on the final possession to force a desperation shot that was well off the mark.
The victory was truly a team effort. Four other Bearcats were in double figures. Tomas Brock added 18 points and contributed 7 assists. Ryan Dougherty had 16, Ivan Cropotov had 14, and Tristan Steele had 13. With Rogers out of the game, Steve Cotton and Jacob French provided some huge minutes off the bench.
Southwest Baptist's next opponent will be Pittsburg State on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. in Pittsburg, Kan.
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