Free throws, rebounds and turnovers plagued the Bruins as they fell 58-71 to Pensacola Christian College in the Davis Field House Friday night. Three players scored in the double figures tonight, but it was Delaney Edwards who led the Bruins with 19 points and 8 rebounds.
"We played at a high level overall tonight, but there were three areas where we let ourselves down," said Head Coach Mike LeViere. "We're a pretty good free throwing team, but we couldn't make them tonight. Rebounds. We gave up at least 19 offensive rebounds and that's been a struggle all year, but it really hurt us tonight. And the third area was turnovers, which is a big one. I told the team that if we are better in one of those areas, we probably win the game. Any two of those areas, we win by ten, and any three of those areas, we win by twenty or more. And we have those things to work on."
The Bruins came into tonight's game undefeated in region play after winning back to back games against Trinity Baptist College and Johnson University (FL) and were 7-8 overall on the season. The Eagles traveled to Greenville with a 12-2 record after defeating Trinity Baptist College on January 18.
Over 1,100 fans came out to watch tonight's rivalry game, and the energy in the Davis Field House was electric.
It was a back and forth effort from both teams to come out on top in the first quarter, but it was PCC who edged the Bruins 22-16 after the first 10 minutes of play. Shea Dickinson contributed half of the points for the Bruins in the first quarter.
A three-pointer from Catherine Skebo started the scoring off strong for the Bruins in the second quarter. The Bruins would continue to fight and would outscore the Eagles 16-12 in the second quarter. Heading into halftime, the home team would only be down by two points with the Eagles leading 34-32.
After halftime, the Eagles came out fighting while the Bruins struggled to get points on the board. Annie Miller sank two three-pointers and three of her four free throws to score nine of the 12 third quarter points for the Bruins. The Bruins went from a two-point deficit at the start of the third quarter to down by 12 points at the end of 30 minutes of play.
In the final quarter of play, the Bruins looked to claw their way out of a hole. Through those final 10 minutes, Delaney Edwards contributed seven points and Annie Miller was close behind with four. The game would end with the Bruins falling 58-71 to their South Region rivals.
Despite the final score and some areas of struggle, Coach LeViere said that "we played some really good defense and played at a high level at other areas of the game. When you look at what you have to fix, it's not easy, but it's simple to understand and know where we need to improve."
Delaney Edwards, Annie Miller and Shea Dickinson all scored in double figures in tonight's game.
"Our theme this entire year: get better tomorrow. I think we'll be better because of this game, and we'll learn from it, get better and grow."
