It was another tough loss as the women's basketball team fell 46-61 to South region rivals on the road in Georgia. The Bruins have now fallen 8-14 overall and are now even at 3-3 in conference play.
"There are times when you go through canyons in life and this is one of those times for us in basketball," said Head Coach Mike LeViere. "For whatever reason, we are really struggling to play good basketball. It wouldn't be frustrating if we were playing to our potential, but I believe every person on this team knows we are capable of playing at a higher level. Unfortunately, until we go out there and do it, it remains potential. The reality is that we need to just go out and execute the little things really well and not worry about the big picture. If we take care of little things, like finishing at the basket, boxing out and rebounding, finding the open person with the ball, etc., the big picture things will take care of themselves."
As the game got underway down in Georgia, Delaney Edwards would shoot for two to kick off the scoring. Toccoa would then respond. With a 1:25 left in the first quarter, Ainsley Hutton would go to the free-throw line and make both shots to tie the game at 9 points apiece. But the Screaming Eagles would get the ball in the basket to lead 14-9 at the end of the first 10 minutes.
The Screaming Eagles would double their lead to start the second quarter before Shea Dickinson would sink a three-pointer to bring the Bruins back into the game. A jumper from Gracen Ledford would bring the Bruins within four points, but the home team would go on an 8-point run to increase their lead. Gracen Ledford would fire a three-point shot right at the buzzer to bring the score to 23-29 in favor of the Screaming Eagles.
The Bruins would continue to fight as they trailed Toccoa, but turnovers plagued the Bruins in the third quarter, and they only came away with nine points and trailed 32-44 heading into the final quarter.
Toccoa would add six points to their game before Tamrah Konieczka would get the Bruins on the board. Halfway through the fourth quarter, the Bruins would score five unanswered, but they couldn't get back in the game and fell 46-61 to their South region rivals.
At the conclusion of the game, Tamrah Konieczka led the Bruins with 11 points with Delaney Edwards close behind with 10 points. Shea Dickinson led the way with nine rebounds and nine points.
"There have been a lot of times this year I've sounded like a broken record," said LeViere. "We have to have the maturity and self-discipline to take a step forward and consistently make the right play, the right decision. Once we get on a downward spiral, it takes a great deal of effort to get out of it. I hope we have the fortitude to do so."
The Bruins have one final contest of the regular-season when they host Trinity Baptist College at the Davis Field House for a noon game on Saturday. The team will then travel to Florida to compete in the NCCAA South Region Tournament.
