Box Score
The Bears shot over 80% from the field in the first half and never looked back as Truett-McConnell College defeated the Bob Jones University Lady Bruins 88-69 on Thursday afternoon. "We have to control what we can control and play our game and not let outside factors affect that," Bruins' forward Brianna Delaney said as she finished with 24 points on the night in the loss. "We can't take our focus off and worry about the refs or the other team but we need to stay positive and do the best that we can." 

 

With the loss, the Bruins drop to 8-9 to end the first half of the season. The Bruins had defeated the Bears earlier on in the season with a 62-52 victory in the first game of the season. The Bruins were coming off of back-to-back wins in recent games and looked to close out the first half of the season strong against the Truett-McConnell Bears. 

The two teams traded baskets in the opening minutes as Julia Wright and Kendra Jeffcott knocked down shots for the Bruins, but the Bears responded to keep the score close. Near the midway point of the first quarter, the Bears went on a 9-0 run and couldn't seem to miss from the field as they took a 28-15 lead at the end of the first quarter. 

In the second quarter, the red hot shooting by Truett-McConnell continued as the team shot over 80% from the field including going 7-9 from three-point range. The Bruins were playing good defense, but the Bears continued to knock down shot after shot to increase their lead. At the half, the Bruins knew they had an uphill battle as they trailed 48-29.

"We went into the half trailing but we felt like we had played really well," Coach Mike LeViere said. "It was hard to overcome the way they were shooting today but I thought we did a good job of rotation and getting our hands up on defense. Sometimes a team gets hot like that and there isn't much you can do to stop them."

The Bruins came out looking to cut into the lead as the team leaned on the play of Brianna Delaney who scored 15 second half points to begin to cut into the Bears lead. Despite their efforts, the Bears would come up with baskets of their own as they continued to keep the lead. The Bears also forced the Bruins into foul trouble, earning several trips to the line to pad their lead. As the third quarter ended, the Bruins trailed 69-46. 

In the final quarter, the Bruins tried to mount one last charge as the team began to make stops defensively and hit four consecutive three's to cut the lead down to just 13. From there, the Bears knocked down back to back baskets to regain momentum and stop the Bruins run. Still, the Bruins tried to claw their way back into the game but came up short as the team fell to Truett-McConnell 88-69. 

"We have a lot of basketball left to play. We have some time here to spend with family and friends and focus on Christ coming to earth so we'll certainly enjoy doing that. But we need to remember that we are on a basketball team as well so we'll be putting in some work over the break to be ready for the second half of the season." 

Brianna Delaney finished the night with 24 points while Kendra Jeffcott chipped in 16 and Julia Wright scored 9. The team will have Christmas break for the next few weeks before beginning the second semester season with two road games in Florida beginning January 7.