The Des Moines Christian basketball teams rarely lose on their home court, with the boys' teams winning 91% of their home games over the last ten years, and the girls' teams winning at an 83% clip over over the same time span. Perhaps the court should be named "The Lions' Den", as few visiting teams escape without getting mauled by the ferocious felines. Last night was no exception, as the ACGC teams both lost one sided affairs to the Lions, with the Charger girls falling 49-26 and the boys losing by an 81-51 score.

The Lions left little doubt as to the outcome of the girls game as they put up fifteen first quarter points before Savana Fuller scored at the buzzer to put the Charges on the board. Fuller's basket was the lone score for ACGC in the first half and the Chargers found themselves trailing 23-2 at the intermission.

The second half was somewhat better for ACGC, with DMC outscoring the Chargers by just a basket, 26-24, over the final two quarters. But the damage was already done and the Lions' coasted to victory. The Chargers managed only ten shots in the first half, connecting only on Fuller's two pointer.

Olivia Laabs put up her best numbers of the season, as she had a perfect shooting night connecting on 5 of 5 field goals, including two treys, and was 3 of 3 from the free throw line. Her 15 points represented over half of the ACGC scoring. Fuller had three rebounds, Mady Smith led in assists with two, and Genevieve Hoover had 4 steals. The team made 8 of 33 field goals on the night for 24% and 7 of 10 from the free throw line.

Despite the thirty point loss for the boys, the team turned in one of its best shooting performances of the season, hitting on 56% of its field goals and 75% of its free throws. That kind of shooting will win most games in the WCAC. The problem was that DMC was hotter that a pistol as the Lions shot an amazing 64% from the floor, including 16 three pointers! Eight different Lions scored from beyond the arc. The Chargers were also hot from deep as they connected on 9 of 16 treys for the game.

ACGC hung with DMC through most of the first quarter, trailing by just 14-12 after Noah Nelson's basket at the 2:20 mark. The Lions' responded with two three pointers to make it 20-12 after the first frame, and increased their lead to 35-21 by halftime. DMC put up 46 second half points, making 17 of 23 field goal attempts! Meanwhile, in the third quarter, ACGC scored six baskets--all three pointers! It was quite a remarkable shooting display by both teams. It is doubtful that anyone could have beaten DMC last night.

Noah Nelson led the Chargers with a season high 19 points, including 5 of 8 treys. Caden Wardyn also scored in double figures with 11 points and led the team in rebounds with 5. Bryce Littler added 7 points and led in assists with 4.

Charger mentor Jake Mohling was upbeat after the game when he said, "I thought we played well--we just can't match their firepower. Before we subbed we probably beat the BC Moore spread* and did better than last time. Noah Nelson had a great game. We need to put all of our good individual games together."

The Charger teams will return home next Tuesday, Jan. 30 after a couple of weeks on the road. Earlham will provide the opposition for a girl/boy doubleheader beginning at 6 PM.

* The BC Moore spread refers to to a computer algorithm which predicted that the Chargers would lose by 31.

Girls' score by quarters Boys' score by quarters

ACGC 2 0 8 16--26 ACGC 12 9 18 12--51

DMC 15 8 10 16--49 DMC 20 15 24 22--81

Box Score Box score

FG 3Pt FT O-D AST STL TP FG 3Pt FT O-D AST STL TP

Fuller 1-2 0-0 0-0 1-2 0 2 2 Nelson 7-10 5-8 0-0 0-0 2 1 19

Laabs 5-5 2-2 3-3 1-1 1 1 15 Spack 2-5 1-3 0-1 2-1 1 0 5

Smith 0-4 0-2 0-0 0-2 2 0 0 Byars 1-1 0-0 1-1 0-1 2 1 3

Embl't'n 0-3 0-1 3-5 2-0 0 1 3 Wheatley 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

JHoover 0-1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 Littler 3-3 1-1 0-0 0-1 4 0 7

O'Brien 0-4 0-1 0-0 0-1 1 1 0 Wardyn 4-8 1-2 2-2 0-5 0 0 11

KeYoung 1-3 0-0 0-0 1-1 0 1 2 Madsen 0-0 0-0 2-2 0-0 0 0 2

Carrick 0-5 0-1 0-0 0-1 0 2 0 Younker 1-4 1-2 1-2 0-2 2 0 4

Lemke 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 Stowe 0-1 0-0 0-0 1-2 0 0 0

Larsen 0-1 0-0 0-0 1-0 0 0 0 Ure 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

KyYoung 0-0 0-0 1-2 0-0 0 0 1

GHoover 1-2 1-1 0-0 1-1 0 4 3

Caltrider 0-3 0-1 0-0 0-1 0 0 0