BCU vs. Morningside

Yesterday, our BCU men's and women's basketball teams came through at the CNOS Classic by sweeping our "friends" from Morningside in a varsity double header for the first time since I've been a student here at Briar Cliff.

For our women's team, this win shows just how far they have come during this season. As most of you probably know, Morningside's women's basketball program is one of the most powerful in NAIA Divison II. They have been to the final four so many times recently that I've lost count and for most of the previous decade they have dominated Briar Cliff. But yesterday, our women proved that this new decade is going to be different. Late in the game, our women were trailing by double-digits to the Mustangs and many of us at Tyson, including myself, thought to ourselves "Here we go again, we gave Morningside a run for it but they're pulling away at the end." Then the Chargers battled back in the final two minutes to score 19 unanswered points to defeat Morningside 74-69.

For our men's team, it was pretty much business as usual, as the Chargers pulled away at the end to defeat the Mustangs 88-69 and capture their 3rd consecutive win over Morningside and their second consecutive win over the Mustangs at Tyson Event Center.

While it was almost impossible for me to be disappointed at all yesterday, I did find something that rubbed me the wrong way. During the women's game, there were only a handful of students in the arena. By the time the men's game started, the two sections behind BCU's basket were packed. I think it is time that the BLUE CREW starts supporting both teams. In past years, when the women's team was struggling to win games, I could understand students coming late to the first game and getting there in plenty of time for the men's matchup, but now that the women's team has found their rhythm and are ranked 15th in the NAIA National Poll, we need to show up and support them just like we do for the men.

Despite this, I'm going to end this post with a positive remark that I thought of when the game was scheduled at Tyson. "Even though it was Morningside's home game. Tyson Events Center is still OUR HOUSE!" This is a reference to the fact that prior to the Newman Flanagan Center opening in the mid-1980s, the Chargers used to play at the Sioux City Auditorium, which is connected to the Tyson Events Center and can be seen in Gateway Arena in the corner where the American flag is located.

I'm DK and that's the 411.