In their final game before the holiday break, the Bruins fell 86-36 to NCAA DI opponent, USC Upstate on the road in Spartanburg, South Carolina.
"Despite the score, we really had some good things happen and we walk away from this exhibition feeling really good," said Head Coach Mike LeViere. "We really struggled to score the ball, but we played some great defense against a really talented Upstate team."
The Bruins came into today's game on a three-game losing streak after falling to Campbellsville University Harrodsburg and Johnson & Wales University at home last weekend. They knew they would up against a tough opponent as the USC Upstate Spartans were looking to extend their four-game win streak and remain undefeated on their home court. Today's game was the sixth time the two Upstate schools have met with the Spartans taking all six wins.
Right from tip-off, the Spartans would score seven points before Shea Dickinson would go on a fast break and shoot for three to put the Bruins on the board. The Spartans offense was strong in the 1st quarter with USC Upstate leading 28-7 after the first 10 minutes.
Through the 2nd quarter, the Bruins tightened their defense and looked to close the deficit seeing Gracen Ledford score 5 points with an assist and Delaney Edwards contribute 4 points. The Spartans led 45-18 going into halftime.
Despite strong defensive work by the Bruins in the third and fourth quarters, they were unable to catch up to the Spartans and fell 86-36 in their final game of 2021. Delaney Edwards led the Bruins with 8 points and rebounds. Tamrah Konieczka, Gracen Ledford and Shea Dickinson were close behind all scoring 6 points tonight.
After tonight's game, Coach LeViere said that his team was "able to maintain our identity and worked really hard at our man to man defense the entire evening. We forced 20 turnovers against an extremely balanced Divison I opponent. That speaks volumes for the effort the young ladies exhibited out their tonight. It also gives our team members a lot of confidence going forward to show that they can face pressure and respond in a good way. We drew a lot of fouls which showed we were aggressive going to the basket. We just couldn't get the ball to drop in the net as much as we would like."
"I loved the fight and character we showed, especially having our shooters knocking down shots and working our defense right up to the end of the game."
The Bruins get to enjoy their Christmas break before heading on the road to take on Warner University in Lake Wales, Florida on January 4.
