The Bob Jones University women's basketball team is still searching for their first win of the season after falling 81-118 to Birmingham-Southern College Saturday night on the road in Birmingham, Alabama. The Bruins battled hard and saw a lot of positives throughout the game, but ultimately couldn't catch up to Birmingham-Southern.
"While this game gets reported as a loss, we are walking away with a positive taste in our mouth," said Head Coach Mike LeViere. "We grew up a lot during this game and that's what we needed. This was our best performance so far this season and it was exactly what we needed for us to learn and grow."
Today was day two of the Richard Dardenne Memorial Classic hosted by Birmingham-Southern. The Bruins came into tonight's game on the heels of a loss to Millsaps College the night before. The Panthers suffered their first loss of the season on Friday after falling to Trinity (Texas). Tonight's game marked the first meeting between the Bruins and the Panthers.
From tip-off the Cougars got off to a hot start going on a 7-0 run before Anna Layne Wylder made a layup to get the Bruins on the board. The Bruins saw themselves down 15-31 after the first quarter. It was another high-scoring quarter for the Panthers as they pulled ahead to a 71-31 lead at halftime. After the break, the Bruins looked to chip away at Birmingham-Southern's lead and throughout the 10 minute quarter, the Bruins scored 19 points highlighted by Anna Layne Wylder who tallied six of those points going 4-4 at the free throw line in the third quarter. As the final quarter got underway, the Bruins went on a six-point run as the battled to close the gap. It was the highest scoring quarter of the game for the Bruins as they ended the game on an eight-point run to outscore the Panthers 31-24.
But as the clocked ticked down, the final score saw the Bruins falling 81-118.
While it was a tough day beyond the arc as the Bruins only went 1-15 from the three-point line, the Bruins were able to go 72.7% from the free point line. Tamrah Konieczka led the team with a double-double of 19 points and 11 rebounds with Ainsley Hutton and Anna Layne Wylder also scoring in the double digits in tonight's game.
"It is easy to look at the negative, and we are very aware of those negatives, but when we look at the makeup of our team and the growth that is happening and will continue to happen, it is hard to stay down," said Coach LeViere. "We are getting stronger and gaining confidence each outing. As long as we can keep our heads up and continue improving, good things will eventually happen!"
Up next, the Bruins will travel to Misenheimer, North Carolina on Tuesday to face Pfeiffer University for a 6 p.m. tip-off.
