Box Score
After coming off a tough loss on Tuesday night, the BJU Lady Bruins were back home on Friday night as they welcomed the Clearwater Christian College Cougars. The Cougars were coming off a big win over Piedmont on Thursday night and were looking to keep their winning streak going after losing eight of their last ten games. The Den was packed with the Bruin faithful as these two sister schools took the court.
From the opening tip, the Bruins played stellar defense and jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead. Kendra Jeffcott and Kourtney Hoefler dominated the glass and scored easy buckets in the paint against the Cougar defense. Bre Bullard shut down Cougars leading scorer Tori Hale, forcing her to take tough shots. "The past couple games we knew we could do better," Bullard said. "We knew we didn't want to go back and we wanted to keep improving game by game. Tonight we showed that." Throughout the rest of the 1st half, the Bruins controlled the pace of the game and continued to extend their lead. At the break, the Bruins had a commanding 32-13 lead.
"We changed a lot of our defensive philosophy throughout the game," Coach LeViere said. "We knew if we pressured them we could create opportunities. We were able to force a lot of turnovers and low percentage shots."
In the second half, the Bruins continued to stay in the driver's seat as the team extended their lead to well over 20 points. The Bruins banked in shot after shot, further adding to the Cougars deficit. The large lead allowed the Bruins to rest some of their starters and allow some of the reserve players to get some playing time. All throughout the second half, the Bruins continued to dominate the glass as they outrebounded the Cougars 63-33. When the final buzzer sounded, the Bruins had captured a solid 62-33 win.
"We focus on what we can control," Bruins' forward Kourtney Hoefler said. "We knew we were better than we've played the last few games, and we came out very motivated tonight."
Hoefler had an outstanding game with 14 points and 23 rebounds. Kendra Jeffcott added 17 points and 10 rebounds. Hoefler and Jeffcott together matched the rebound total for the entire Clearwater squad. The Bruins defense proved to be key as the team held the Cougars to 19% shooting on the night.
With the win, the Bruins move to 6-12 on the season and will face Warren Wilson College on Tuesday night.
