Box Score
Hannah Tompkins and Kendra Jeffcott helped fuel the Bruins offense as the team overcame the Yellow Jackets lead in the 2nd half to come away with an 83-78 victory over Allen University on Friday night. "Coach tells us all the time that we need to stay strong in the game no matter what happens and have mental toughness," Tompkins said. "We knew we needed to keep moving forward and keep looking up." 

The two programs met for the first time in program history on Friday night. The Bruins entered the game after coming off a 76-72 victory over Warren Wilson College on Tuesday night. The Yellow Jackets started off the season strong and came into the game winning 3 of their last four. One team was set to receive the "W" on this night as the two teams took the floor in front of the Bruin faithful. 

 

The Bruins started off strong and jumped out to a 7-0 lead as the game began behind the great play of Kendra Jeffcott. The Yellow Jackets finally found a groove and battled their way back to within two 11-9. The Bruins then went on a 10-0 run courtesy of Hannah Tompkins and Sha'Ron Brunson's three point bombs as the team closed out the first quarter up 24-14.

In the second quarter, the Bruins continued to take advantage of the Yellow Jackets' aggressive defense by moving the ball around and finding open shooters for points. Defensively, the team forced the Yellow Jackets into tough looks as the Bruins maintained a double digit lead. Right before the half, Sydney Bedsaul drove through the lane and found Sarah Thomsen who buried the shot from the top of the key as time as expired to give the Bruins a comfortable 37-22 lead at the break. 

"We expected some aggressive defense from them and we weren't disappointed," Coach Mike LeViere said. "We knew we would have to take care of the ball and make good decisions. I was proud of our team though as we overcame a lot tonight."

In the second half, the Yellow Jackets came out and swarmed the Bruins by switching up their defense and forcing the Bruins into 10 turnovers in the 3rd quarter. Allen University rallied as they knocked down shots and pushed the tempo to battle all the way back and take the lead. As the third quarter buzzer rang, the Yellow Jackets had outscored the Bruins 26-9 in the quarter to take a 58-56 lead. 

As the final quarter began, the Bruins knew they would have to find an answer and they found it in the red hot shooting of Hannah Tompkins who knocked down several threes from the outside to help the Bruins regain the lead. Down the stretch, the Bruins made key defensive stops and took advantage of their offensive opportunities to come away with an 83-78 win over Allen University.  

"Tonight we played as a team and had each other's back," Bruins' forward Bridgette Gleed said. "The team unity we played with tonight was a lot of fun and we need to take that on to the next game."

Tompkins finished with 25 points and 4 rebounds while Kendra Jeffcott scored 21 while grabbing 8 rebounds. Sha'Ron Brunson scored 14 as the Bruins shot 43% from the field and 41% from three-point range. With the win, the Bruins improve to 13-10 on the season. Next up, the team will be on the road Tuesday night as they battle Toccoa Falls College.