Women's Basketball by Jonny Gamet

Warriors Rout Lady Bruins

Team falls behind early in 72-32 loss

Box Score
The Lady Bruins were on the road on Tuesday night as they traveled to Central, SC for a matchup with the Southern Wesleyan Warriors. The Bruins were coming off a tough loss at home to Tennessee Temple on Saturday night. The Warriors were having struggles of their own having lost four of their last six games. Entering their last week of the regular season, the Bruins were looking to finish strong to head into the NCCAA DI South Regional in a few weeks. The team was dealt a blow before the opening tip as Kourtney Hoefler, the Bruins' anchor in the post, would not be playing due to injury she sustained in practice on Monday night. With their captain and leading rebounder out, the Bruins were facing a formidable opponent without one of their best players. 

From the opening tip, the Warriors went right at the Bruins and took control of the game. Ashley Cooper and the Warrior offense showed great proficiency in passing through the Bruin defense for easy baskets. The Warriors pressured the Bruins with man-to-man defense causing the Bruins to turn the ball over. The team forced bad shots and wasn't able to get anything going on offense. "We just couldn't handle the defensive pressure," Coach LeViere said. "When you can't handle that pressure, it affects your shooting performance and it made us make bad decisions." In the remaining minutes of the first half, the Warriors continued to extend their lead and score on easy baskets. At the half, the Bruins were down 37-16. 

"We didn't take the ball to the basket and that hurt us a lot," Coach LeViere said. "That and turnovers didn't allow us to get anything going offensively." 

In the second half, the Bruins continued to struggle shooting the ball as the team shot a mere 22% for the game. The team also suffered from a lack of inside presence as Warriors forward Ashley Cooper chipped in 17 points against the Bruins. With the game well in hand, the Bruins continued to turn the ball over which turned into points for Southern Wesleyan. As the final buzzer sounded, the Bruins had been dealt their second straight loss in a 72-32 blowout.

"At times we struggle to be mentally tough," Coach LeViere said. "To not have Kourtney hurt us, and we just folded under the defensive pressure." 

The Bruins committed 33 turnovers throughout the course of the game while allowing the Warriors 14 offensive rebounds. Kendra Jeffcott was the high scorer for the Bruins with 9 points while Kim Spiecker added 7 and 8 rebounds. With the loss, the Bruins move to 10-14 on the season and will continue their road trip by playing their last regular season game on Friday night against Pensacola in Florida. 
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