The Lady Bruins pushed their winning streak to four in a row as the team defeated Toccoa Falls College 77-62 on Tuesday night in the Davis Field House. With the win, the Bruins improve to 5-7 on the season and 2-3 in region play. Delaney Edwards led the Bruins with 18 points and 8 rebounds in the win.
"This was another good outing for us and we can look and see that we are playing much better basketball than we were a month ago," Bruins Head Coach Mike LeViere said. "Still, we see a lot of areas we can improve as we gave up too many offensive rebounds and took some ill-advised shots that we are going to want back when we look at the game film."
It was senior night for the Bruins as the team honored four seniors who are graduating this season. The team honored team manager Monica Marchena as well as players Gracen Ledford, Delaney Edwards and Charsie Johnson in a pregame ceremony.
"These seniors mean so much to our program," Coach LeViere said. "They each have been a great teammate and have worked so hard during their time here. We will miss them a lot and we're thankful for everything they've done in their careers here."
The Bruins came into Tuesday's game on the heels of a dominant win on Monday night over Johnson (TN) and the team was hoping to keep up their winning ways against the Screaming Eagles. Earlier this season, the Bruins came up short in a 63-59 loss at Toccoa Falls on January 23 and the team was looking to avenge their earlier season loss as they took the court.
From the opening tip, the Bruins were able to come out strong defensively as they forced the Screaming Eagles into early turnovers. As a result, the Bruins were able to build an early 11-5 lead after Bethany Daulton knocked down a three. The Bruins then closed out the quarter strong as the team took a 19-9 lead at the end of one.
In the second quarter, Gracen Ledford and Delaney Edwards knocked down jump shots and Shea Dickinson hit a three to help the Bruins charge out with an 11-4 run to take a 30-13 lead. The Bruins continued to force Toccoa into tough looks and took advantage by limiting second chance opportunities. Although the Screaming Eagles made a short run to end the half, Gracen Ledford hit a three to help the Bruins maintain a double-digit lead at the half 37-23.
As the second half began, Toccoa Falls came out with an 8-2 run thanks to three-straight baskets by Angel Dixon. The Bruins answered back to stop the run as Tamrah Konieczka hit a three and Gracen Ledford followed with another to push the lead back to 46-30. Still, the Screaming Eagles continued to battle back as they closed the quarter strong to cut the Bruins lead to 57-42 at the end of the third.
With one quarter to play, Toccoa came out looking to pull off a dramatic comeback as the team hit back to back shots before a three by Bethany Daulton stopped the TFC rally. As time continued to tick away, the Bruins did a great job of answering each basket by the Screaming Eagles to keep the lead.
Jessiann Wiedmann came up with a key basket with just under three minutes to play as a layup increased the lead 67-55. From there, the Bruins were able to make free throws down the stretch as the team went on to win the game 77-62 for their fifth win in the last six games.
"I told the team it is nice to win even when we don't play our best," Coach LeViere said. "We need to continue to play at a high level and we can't let our competition or the score define how we play."
Three players scored in double figures for the Bruins on the night with Delaney Edwards near double-double giving the Bruins a boost. Jessiann Wiedmann also finished with 13 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists while Gracen Ledford had 10 points, 6 assists and 4 rebounds in the win.
Next up, the Bruins will be on the road on Monday night as the team faces Southern Wesleyan University in Central, South Carolina.
