The Bob Jones University women's basketball team wrapped up their weekend with a narrow loss to the Welch College Flames 62-60 in Gallatin, Tennessee. With today's result, the Bruins now sit at 2-5 on the season.
Less than 24 hours after Friday's win over Southeastern Baptist College from the Welch College Athletics Center, the Bruins were back on the court for an afternoon matchup against Welch College. Today's game marked the fifth meeting between the two programs with BJU's only win against the Flames coming back in 2020.
The Bruins and Flames kept it close through the opening minutes. With 25 seconds left on the clock, Shelby Epperson's layup put the Bruins ahead 12-11. In the final 10 seconds, Welch retook the lead 14-12 with a three-pointer to conclude the first quarter.
Welch expanded their lead as they went on an 11-0 run before a jump shot by Keely Price ended their scoring spree. Bruins did a good job as they worked to cut the lead down to just two points with just under three minutes over in the half. But the Flames responded to regain a 10 point lead. At halftime the Bruins trailed 35-25.
After a slow start to the second half, Anna Layne Wylder sank a three-pointer followed by a layup to get the Bruins on the board in the third quarter. The team began to come alive as they cut a 14 point deficit to just five. After 30 minutes of play, the Bruins still trailed 49-45.
Looking for a big finish to Saturday's contest, Faith Hayward opened the scoring for Bob Jones with a big three-pointer. Price then made her layup to get within one with seven minutes left in the contest. Welch made a few key buckets before the Bruins went on a 6-0 run to get within two points. The Bruins had several late opportunities to tie the game but found themselves down by a two possession game with 21 seconds left on the clock. Wylder made her layup and with five seconds on the clock the Bruins were down by just two points. The Flames turned it over with 3.6 seconds as the Bruins took a timeout to set up their game plan. The Bruins made one final shot, but in the end it was Welch College who finished ahead 62-60.
Three Bruins finished the game in double digits with Price leading the team with 17 points, Wylder with 12, and 10 from Trump. Price led all players with 23 rebounds.
Following the game, Head Coach Mike LeViere said, "we came out in the second half and worked hard to make up the deficit we built in the first half.
I told the team we worked hard enough to keep ourselves in the game despite making the mistakes that should cause us to not even be in the game."
He continued saying, "we also have yet to shoot the ball like we can and so to be in the game and have a chance to win it while shooting a really low percentage means we did some other things really well. The improvement is visible and we still are nowhere near where we will be."
Up next, the Bruins travel to Macon, Georgia for a Monday night contest against Wesleyan College.
