The Bob Jones University Bruins triumphed over Johnson University (FL) 74-54 in their Friday night meeting inside the Davis Field House. Tamrah Konieczka led the Bruins with 20 points and 8 rebounds with Delaney Edwards right behind her with 19 points and 5 rebounds. With tonight's win, the Bruins have improved to 7-8 on the season and go 2-0 to remain undefeated in region play.
"It wasn't a great night shooting, but that didn't stop us from playing really hard defense as well as good rebounding," said Head Coach Mike LeViere. "Sometimes we're not always in control of the shots going down, but we can do a lot of other things really well, and tonight we did that."
Tonight's game was the first home game in over a month for the Bruins. The Bruins came into tonight's game after finishing their road trip to Florida where they beat Trinity Baptist College 65-53 on Monday. The Suns were looking for their first win of the season as they entered the contest 0-12 overall.
Bob Jones got off to a good start as Delaney Edwards would get the scoring started early in the first quarter. As the game continued, the Bruins were able to create and hold on to a lead. And with just over a minute remaining, they increased to a nine point lead. With a layup followed by a three-pointer by the Suns at the end of the first quarter, the Bruins held on to a slight four-point advantage leading 23-19.
While the first quarter looked promising for the Bruins, the second seemed to be the opposite. After an early timeout by the Suns at the start of the second period, the visiting team came back with some momentum to begin the quarter. There was some back and forth as both teams fought for points. With 4:30 remaining in the second quarter, the Suns would get their first lead of the game. The two teams continued to exchange baskets but some late three-pointers by the Suns would put the Bruins behind 34-36 at halftime.
"We ran into some tiredness at the start of the second quarter and made some mistakes and gave up the lead," said LeViere.
The game could have easily shifted in favor of the Suns after halftime, but the Bruins clawed back and Bethany Daulton knotted the score to begin the third quarter. The Bruins would go on to score nine unanswered to gain back their lead. At the end of the third quarter, the Bruins held a 14 point lead over the Suns. Delaney Edwards and Tamrah Konieczka put down nine points and six points respectively to see the Bruins pull ahead 60-46.
At the start of the final quarter, the Bruins continued to increase their lead. As the clock hit zero, the Bruins came away with the 74-54 victor over Johnson University. Ainsley Hutton led the Bruins in the fourth quarter with four rebounds while Tamrah Konieczka contributed with six points.
After tonight's game, Coach LeViere said that "they didn't fold under the pressure of being down and stuck to the game plan" giving them their seventh win of the season.
Looking ahead to their next game against Warren Wilson on Monday, Coach LeViere mentioned that his team is going to get some rest. "We're coming off of a long road trip as well as the start of classes. We got beat the last time we went up to Warren Wilson, and we want to have a better showing and compete really well against them on Monday."
"I'm kind of a broken record, but we want to play really good defense, take care of the ball and only take good shots and hopefully we can do that."
Tip-off for Monday's game is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at the Davis Field House.
