In their final game of the semester, the Bob Jones University women's basketball team fell 74-71 in a close decision to the Sewanee Tigers in Sewanee, Tennessee. With today's result, the Bruins have now lost four in a row and will head into the new year 5-7 on the season.
"This was a disappointing end of the semester," said Head Coach Mike LeViere. "We had a lot of really good things happen but couldn't ever put Sewanee away. They shot the ball really well, which was the difference in the game. We didn't get out quick enough on them and they made the shots. This was one of those games that it seemed we had to overcome a lot, didn't get the ball to bounce our way, and we still had the chance to win."
BJU came into today's game after falling to Pfeiffer University on Thursday. Sewanee entered the contest 2-9 on the season after losing to Asbury University back on December 6. Today marked the first meeting between the two programs.
Today's game started with off with the two sides exchanging threes. Sewanee took the lead, but the Bruins kept it close and halfway through the first quarter, Ainsley Hutton dropped a three-pointer to tie the game before a jumper from Katrina Tabora saw the Bruins with their first advantage of the afternoon. BJU pulled ahead and after 10 minutes, they led 24-16.
In the second quarter, the Bruins were able to maintain their lead scoring 16 points to come out on top 41-34 heading into halftime.
Following the halftime break, the Bruins continued to battle as both teams exchanged buckets to get the third period underway. But in the final three minutes Sewanee clawed their way back and scored 10 unanswered to even the score at 56 points heading into the final quarter.
Bethany Daulton's jumpshot gave the Bruins the slight advantage at the beginning of the fourth quarter before the Tigers came back to tie it up again. It was neck and neck throughout the final minutes, but at the whistle it was Sewanee who came out on top 74-71 over the Bruins.
Three Bruins scored in the double digits today with Anna Layne Wylder leading the way with 15 points followed by Shea Dickinson with 13 and Tamrah Konieczka tallying 12.
"Hopefully, this last week leaves a really bad taste in our mouths and will motivate us to work harder to get better," said LeViere as the team looks ahead to the new year.
After a break for the holidays, the Bruins will travel down to Florida for a stretch of three games to start the new year. They'll kick off the road trip with an exhibition against Warner University on January 3 in Lake Wales, Florida before heading to Kissimmee for the following two games.
