Box Score The Lady Bruins took the court on Tuesday night with a sense of urgency and rode the solid effort of Kendra Jeffcott (20 points, 9 rebounds) to defeat the Truett-McConnell College Bears 62-52. The team was coming off a disappointing loss on Saturday afternoon.
"Our defense really helped us when our offense wasn't firing on all cylinders," Coach Mike LeViere said. "On a poor shooting night by our starters, several players stepped up from our bench to help carry us. We shot well from the free throw line as well tonight which helped us."
The Bruins came into the game with a 1-1 record and were facing a Truett-McConnell squad who had won their opener over Columbia International University on Saturday.
From the opening tip, the Bears came out strong and jumped out to an early 7-0 lead. The Bruins struggled to get anything going offensively as the team shot just 14% from the field in the first quarter and scored just two field goals as they ended trailing 9-4 after one.
In the second quarter, newcomer Sydney Bedsaul sparked the Bruins with back-to-back three pointers to cut into the lead. The Bruins finally tied the game after Brianna Delaney banked home the shot to even the score 16-16. The Bears closed out the half on a 6-1 run to take a 22-17 lead into the break.
The Bears came out of the locker room and built a double-digit lead as the Bruins offense continued to struggle. With just five minutes remaining in the quarter, the Bruins began to knock down shots to chip away at the Bears lead. Bridgette Gleed scored with just 13 seconds remaining as the Bruins had clawed their way back into the game and trailed 33-31.
Sydney Bedsaul came up big from behind the arc again for the Bruins as she knocked down a three to help the Bruins gain their first lead of the game early on in the 4th quarter. The shooting woes began to subside as the team shot 72% in the final quarter to go along with shooting 12-15 from the stripe to keep the lead. With two minutes to go, Sha'Ron Brunson knocked down a clutch three to make it 53-45. From there, solid free throw shooting down the stretch allowed the team to come away with a 62-52 road victory over Truett-McConnell.
"Good example of a team win tonight," Coach LeViere said. "When some of us aren't hitting, others stepped up and picked up the slack."
Kendra Jeffcott led the Bruins with 20 points and 9 rebounds while Sydney Bedsaul scored 12 points off the bench for the Bruins while shooting a perfect 4-4 from behind the arc. The team outrebounded 29-20 to improve to 2-1 on the season. Next up, the Bruins will be on the road again this weekend as they battle Johnson University on Saturday afternoon in Knoxville, Tennessee.
