Their time at the NCCAA South Region tournament has come to an end as the #3 Bob Jones University women's basketball team fell 66-55 to #2 Pensacola Christian College in the semifinals Friday afternoon in Kissimmee, Florida. The Bruins saw the lead throughout parts of today's game, but the Eagles rallied to win and advance to Saturday's region championship game.
"Our season ends and there were tears, which means there was great investment and effort," said Head Coach Mike LeViere. "We came out ready to play but struggled to find a rhythm the entire game. In the first half, our defense and rebounding was awesome and took us to the half with a lead. In the second half we still couldn't get any rhythm offensively and our defense also suffered."
Less than 24 hours after their first game of the tournament, the Bruins were back on the court for the semifinals ready to take on Pensacola Christian College. The Bruins opened their time at the NCCAA South Region tournament with a matchup against #6 Southeastern Baptist College. Coming into the game with intensity, the Bruins posted a 72-47 result over the Chargers to advance to Friday's semifinals.
The Bruins knew it would be a tough task as they fell in their two previous meetings with the Eagles this season.
Bob Jones was able to jump to an early lead in today's game. After the first quarter, the Bruins saw a five point advantage over the Eagles to lead 15-10. Through the second quarter, the Bruins continued to defend and rebound well to head into halftime ahead 34-25 over PCC.
The Eagles stormed back after halftime to cut down at the Bruins lead. Through the third quarter, the Eagles came back to tie and eventually take the narrow lead after 30 minutes of play.
In the final quarter, BJU battled hoping to take over the Eagles, but at the final buzzer it was Pensacola on top with a 66-55 result seeing the Bruins time at the region tournament come to an end.
Following the game, Coach LeViere said, "To Pensacola's credit, Jenna Wolford hit shot after shot and we couldn't answer. Their pressure bothered us. Due to turnovers they were able to get more shots off and win the game while shooting a lower percentage."
"We are disappointed only because we didn't play our best," continued LeViere. "That's our goal. Win or lose we can walk away feeling successful if we played well. Once again we didn't reward ourselves and walk away with the knowledge that we let one slip away."
