HAAC News
Mon, Feb 8, 2010 - [HAAC] - Viewed 353 times
No basketball player, male or female, will ever wear No. 44 at Evangel University again.
(by Don Abernathy-Springfield News-Leader)
 

EU retired former standout and current Lady Crusaders' head coach Leon Neal's No. 44 on Saturday afternoon, along with his daughter Tasha's No. 44 following EU's 72-60 Heart of America Athletic Conference win over Baker University in front of 925 at the Ashcroft Center.


"I was expecting Tasha's jersey to be retired sometime soon, but for mine I wasn't expecting that at all," Leon Neal said.

"I don't even know if I really deserve it, but I'm glad we got to do this together."

Leon was the first All-American at EU in any sport after the 1977-78 season, and Tasha earned the same honor in each of her four years.

"It's a great honor to be able to do this the same time as my dad," Tasha (Neal) Moore said. "And the fact that we wore the same number makes it even more special.

"I've been waiting for this to happen for him for a while now because he has so many accolades."

As a precursor to the ceremony, the Lady Crusaders avenged their only conference loss of the season by trouncing Baker University.

EU's lone HAAC loss came on Dec. 1 at Baker, 66-61.
"The shots that we missed (at Baker) we made at home and we guarded a lot better today," the Evangel coach said.

"We executed things well and we spread the court on offense which made it hard for them to stop our dribble-penetration."

The Lady Crusaders made 13 consecutive free throws during a six-minute run in the second half, when they built their largest lead 71-51. EU was 22 of 26 from the line for the game.

"They were fouling us more so off the dribble and we got to the free-throw line," Leon Neal said.

"We needed to get to the line tonight because we had more ball-handlers."

Junior Ashlee Luko made 12 of 14 shots from the free-throw line and sophomore Kara Blankenship converted 10 of 11 free throws in the victory.

Luko led all scorers with 27 points and had seven rebounds and four assists, while Blankenship added 23 points and a game-high nine rebounds.
 
 
 
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