The Lady Bruins basketball team remained within striking distance, but the team couldn't close the gap in the final minutes as they fell to the Hiwassee College Tigers 74-60 on Friday night in Knoxville, Tennessee. With the loss, the Bruins fall to 0-2 on the season.
"We played much better than last weekend which was one of our goals coming into tonight," Bruins Head Coach Mike LeViere said. "We wanted to be better tomorrow because of what we did today and I thought we should definite improvement in this game."
The Bruins came into the game after dropping their season opener to Johnson University last Saturday. The team would be without starting guard Sydney Bedsaul who was out with illness.
J'lynn Majors started the scoring for the Tigers as she knocked down a pair of free throws, a three point shot and a jumper to help Hiwassee jump out to a 7-3 lead over the Bruins. Madison Shupe helped close the gap with a pair of threes as the Bruins battled back to tie the game at 15-15. Both teams traded baskets after that, but the Tigers closed out the first quarter strong to take a 24-21 lead into the second quarter.
Sarah Thomsen and Gracen Ledford knocked down shots for the Bruins to begin the second quarter, but the Tigers found an answer offensively as the Bruins struggled to close the gap. Madison Shupe knocked down her third three of the game to help spark a rally as the Bruins trailed 32-31 with just over five minutes left in the half. Again, the Tigers were able to score down the stretch as they maintained their slim lead with a 40-35 advantage at halftime.
The Bruins roared back in the third quarter and took their first lead of the game after Lauren Smith scored off a shot in the paint to give the Bruins a 44-42 lead. The Tigers took the lead right back but Rachel Clark knocked down a three to give the Bruins the lead again. The Bruins looked to distance themselves as Madison Shupe hit another three before the Tigers used back to back three pointers with under a minute to play to take a 54-53 lead into the final quarter.
With just one quarter to play, the Bruins looked to mount one last run to go for the win. Instead, the Tigers used a 10-2 run to begin the quarter to build a double-digit lead. The Bruins tried to get back into the game, but the Tigers stood strong defensively and scored in transition as they held the Bruins to just seven points in the quarter to win the game 74-60.
"Being a little short-handed tonight and for us to play like we did, I'm really proud of our improvement," Coach LeViere said. "We played well through adversity and played well defensively."
Madison Shupe led the Bruins with a double-double on the night with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Sarah Thomsen and Delaney Edwards each scored 12 while Thomsen also finished the night with four steals. The Bruins won the rebounding margin 38-29, but turnovers hurt BJU as they committed 28 in the game.
Next up, the Lady Bruins will be back in action again on Saturday as the team will face Georgia Northwestern Technical College at 11 a.m. in Knoxville, Tennessee.
