The Lowdown: Sterling College at Friends University

Location: Garvey Center

When: Saturday, Jan. 13 @ 5 pm

Broadcast

Live Stats

Tickets

Flying with the Falcons: The Friends University Falcons won their 10^th game of the season with a 78-65 road victory at the Avila University Eagles Wednesday evening (Jan. 10). The Falcons are now 10-5 overall and in third place in the KCAC with a 7-2 conference record.

The Falcons had to fight off a tough first quarter that saw them trail by nine after shooting just 21.1 percent (4-of-19) from the floor.

After twice trailing by 11 in the second period, a three-point play by Rayland Garner ignited the Falcons and jumpstarted an 11-0 spurt that provided Friends its first lead of the night.

Following five lead changes down the stretch of the first half, a layup by Kori Babock as the second quarter wound down put the Falcons on top 38-37 at the break.

The Falcons then held the Eagles scoreless for more than three and a half minutes of the third quarter and took a five-point lead on layups from Jackson and Garner.

The advantage for the Falcons continued to grow throughout the third period and stretched into double-figures when Trinity Johnson connected from three-point distance to make it 56-44 at the 4:26 mark.

The Falcons pushed the lead as high as 15 in the third before settling for a 63-50 edge heading to the fourth.

A three-point play by Anastasia Wright temporarily brought the Eagles within single-digits at 65-56, but another three by Johnson quickly established the Falcon lead back into double-figures.

With the lead hovering at 10 points, six points from Taylor Jackson keyed an 8-2 spurt that sealed the victory for the Falcons with 2:40 left in the game.

The duo of Rayland Garner and Taylor Jackson is the Falcons' backbone this season, with Garner standing second in the KCAC in scoring (17.7 ppg) and Jackson topping the league in rebounding (11.4 rpg) along with ranking second in blocks per game (2.3 bpg) and fifth in scoring (13.5 ppg). Kori Babcock is also averaging close to double-figure points (9.8 ppg) while Lauryn McIver is second in the conference with a team-leading 3.9 assists per game.

The Falcons have been solid defensively, holding the opposition to just a 34.0 field-goal percentage overall and a 28.5 percent clip from the perimeter.  

Scouting the Warriors: After winning four of their first six conference games, the Sterling College Warriors have dropped three straight in the league and now stand at 7-8 overall and 4-5 in the KCAC.

The Warriors boast two of the top three scorers in the KCAC, led by Korynn Clason's league-leading 21.2 ppg. Alissa Heskamp also ranks second on the team and third in the conference with 14.4 ppg. Clason is also tops on the team in rebounding (5.9 rpg), with Kali Briar leading the team in assists (2.9 apg). 

The Series: The Falcons are just 12-33 against the perianal contending Sterling College Warriors since 2004, with an 8-13 mark in Wichita during that stretch. Friends has dropped 12 straight overall in the series, with its last win over Sterling coming in an 82-81 victory at home during the 2017-18 season.     

Quoting Head Coach Dean Jaderston 

"It's good to be getting back to a regular KCAC schedule. We have to stay focused on each game as it comes and not feel on the past or look ahead. Sterling has two of the top three scorers in the conference this year, so our defense has to focused and tough. We continue to get better offensively, but the last few games it's taken us a quarter to get going. If we can start games better at the offensive end, we should take another good step as a team."

Clean Sweep: The Friends University Falcons made it a clean sweep of this week's KCAC Women's Basketball awards, with Rayland Garner winning the Offensive Player of the Week honor and Taylor Jackson capturing the league's top defensive award.

Read the full release HERE!

Scoring Frenzy: The matchup between the Falcons and Warriors is scintillating from an offensive standpoint, as four of the KCAC's top five scorers this season will take the court at 5 pm Saturday inside the Garvey Center. Sterling's Korynn Clason leads the league with 21.2 ppg, followed by the Falcons' Rayland Garner at 17.7 ppg. Alissa Heskamp of the Warriors is third in the league with 14.4 ppg and Friends' Taylor Jackson is also in the top five at 13.5 ppg.

70 is a Serious Number: The Falcons have won 10 of 11 games when holding the opposition below the 70-point mark, but have come up short all four times the opposing team scores at least 70 points. Conversely, the Falcons are a perfect 9-0 when scoring at least 70 points themselves, but have lost five of the six games when failing to reach the 70-point mark.

Make or Miss League: Sometimes basketball can be broken down in its most simplistic terms: The team that shoots the ball better wins the majority of the time.  That has proven to be true thus far for the Falcons, as they're 10-1 when leading in field-goal percentage, but have lost all four times the opposition has shot better from the field.

Sharing is Caring: The Falcons have won all nine games when leading in assists, but are just 1-5 when the opposition records more helpers.  

Block Parties: Taylor Jackson has been a major deterrent for the Falcons inside since joining the program for the 2021-22 season. Jackson won six KCAC Defensive Player of the Week awards last season and has now collected 12 for her career after winning three awards so far this year.  The Houston, Texas native is the Falcons' modern-era career leader in blocks with 238 swats for her career.

Sponsor Alerts: Friends University Athletics is excited to have Home2 Suites by Hilton as an official athletic sponsor this season! For more on what they can offer, click HERE to visit their official webpage.

Falcons by the Numbers

Overall record: 10-5

KCAC: 7-2

Home: 6-2

Road: 4-3

Neutral: 0-0

When scoring:                                          

Under 50 points: 0-2

50-59 points: 0-3

60-69 points: 1-0

70-79 points: 4-0

80-89 points: 3-0

90+ points:  2-0

When allowing:

Under 50 points: 3-0

50-59 points: 3-1

60-69 points: 4-0

70-79 points: 0-3

80-89 points: 0-1

90+ points: 0-0

When leading at halftime: 9-0

When trailing at halftime: 1-5

When tied at halftime: 0-0

When committing fewer turnovers: 6-1

When committing more turnovers: 3-4

When turnovers are even: 1-0

When leading in field-goal percentage: 10-1

When trailing in field-goal percentage: 0-4

When field-goal percentage is even: 0-0

When leading in three-point percentage: 6-1

When trailing in three-point percentage: 4-4

When leading in rebounding: 9-2

When trailing in rebounding: 1-3

When rebounding is even: 0-0

When leading in assists: 9-0

When trailing in assists: 1-5

When assists are even: 0-0

In OT: 0-0

The Coaches:

Dean Jaderston is in his fifth season at the helm of the Friends University women's basketball program. The Falcon women's basketball program has seen considerable growth under his leadership both on and off the court.  Last year the team finished 17-14, catching fire at the end of the season, making it all the way to the KCAC tournament championship game at Hartman Arena.

Jaderston brings a wealth of experience to Friends University, with over 30 years of coaching high school and college basketball (13 years high school and 23 years at the college level). Last season he recorded his 300th career collegiate win on December 13th vs. Tabor College.

As a men's basketball coach Jaderston was a two-time KCAC Coach of the Year. He coached six NAIA All-America performers during his tenure at Sterling College. He also led his teams to two KCAC championships and one KCAC tournament championship.

Prior to taking over at Sterling, Jaderston served in the dual role of men's basketball head coach and assistant athletic director at Trinity International University in Deerfield, IL for five seasons.

Before entering the college ranks he spent eight seasons as both the head girls' basketball and head girls' and boys' tennis coach at Rosemount High School in Rosemount, MN, and 4 years as the head boys' basketball coach at Eastview High School in Apple Valley, MN.

As an athlete Jaderston was a successful college basketball player at Crown College in St. Bonifacius, MN.  He was a four-time all-conference selection while helping the team advance to four national tournaments. He also earned All-America and Academic All-America during his college career.

He also competed in tennis for three years at Crown and was a two-time conference singles and three-time conference doubles champion.

Jaderston and his wife Julie have been married for 34 years and are active in youth and camping ministries. They currently serve as executive directors of a premier summer Christian family conference called Northern Pines of Minnesota. They have 3 married sons and 7 grandchildren.

He earned his Bachelor of Arts in History/Secondary Education from Crown College in 1989 and then completed a Master of Arts in Adlerian Counseling and Psychotherapy from Adler Graduate School in 1998.

K.C. Bassett is in her 10th season as head coach of the Sterling College Warriors. Bassett has guided the Warriors to three straight KCAC regular season championships and five consecutive NAIA National Tournament berths. She has also led the Warriors to a pair of KCAC tournament titles in the past three seasons.

Before taking the reins of the program, Bassett served seven years as an assistant coach at Sterling. She was also a four-year starter for the Lady Warriors and finished her playing career as the program's all-time leader in assists.

Up Next: The Falcons will play at Oklahoma Wesleyan University Wednesday evening (Jan. 17) at 6 pm in Bartlesville, Okla.