Box Score
The Bruin women welcomed in the Fighting Koalas of Columbia College on Friday night. The two teams had met earlier in the season with the Koalas gaining the victory 81-63 in Columbia. The Bruins had struggled over the last two games, but the team continues to show improvement in their inaugural season. The Fighting Koalas had their struggles as well in losing their last four games.
From the opening tip, the Bruins came out strong in front of the Bruin faithful as they took the lead. Trisha Irving and Bre Bullard led the Bruin offense and generated great opportunities for their post players to get open shots. Despite many wide open looks, the Bruins struggled to hit three point shots as the team shot 3-16 from beyond the arc in the first half. The Bruins stepped up their defensive intensity as they forced numerous turnovers throughout the first half. "We played with a lot of confidence tonight," Bruins' guard Trisha Irving said. "We really gelled as a team tonight and that helped us out a lot on defense." As the first half continued, Kendra Jeffcott dominated the paint as she scored basket after basket in the lane. At the half, the Bruin women found themselves in unfamiliar territory as they led 35-29 after hitting two three-pointers in the last 15 seconds of the half.
"We really have been building and improving every game," Coach Mike LeViere said. "Once we started seeing we could make shots and stop them on defense we started playing with a lot more confidence."
In the second half, the Bruins stepped up their offensive play by shooting much better from the field. Despite turning the ball over on their first three possessions in the second half, the Bruins' defense remained strong to keep the Koalas at bay. The Bruins continued to show great execution in their offense and in the second half, the shots began to fall as the Bruins shot 40% from the floor and 66% from beyond the arc. Each possession, the Bruins battled to create good opportunities and were able to score on several second-chance shots. "We knew it was going to be a physical game," Bruins' forward Kourtney Hoefler said. "We knew we needed to be physical and go after the ball." As the game was nearing the end, the Bruins showed their clutch free-throw shooting ability by shooting 20 of 26 on the night and were near perfect in the second half. As the final buzzer sounded, the Bruins had secured the first home victory in Bruin basketball history with a 71-61 win over Columbia College.
"It means so much to us to win in front of our home crowd," Bruins' forward Kourtney Hoefler said. "We fed off of the crowd's energy tonight which helped a lot."
Kendra Jeffcott had a double-double on the night with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Three other Bruins scored in double figures as Chalice Pack (13 points), Kim Spiecker (13 points), and Trisha Irving (11 points and 7 assists) helped the Bruins on the offensive end. Kourtney Hoefler cleaned up the glass with 13 rebounds on the night while contributing 7 points. With the win, the Bruins move to 3-8 on the year. The next home game for the Bruin women will be on Friday night as the Bruins welcome Trinity Baptist College at 5:00 p.m.
