In front of a packed out Davis Field House crowd, the Bob Jones University Bruins narrowly fell in a 76-75 decision to the Pensacola Christian College Eagles Friday night. With today's loss, the Bruins now sit at 5-9 on the season and 1-1 in conference play.
"Tonight was a great game," said Head Coach Mike LeViere. "We played the #1 team in the nation and came within one possession of knocking them off. We had some beautiful basketball plays in the game and handled their pressure really well."
As today's game got underway, the PCC Eagles picked up the opening five points of the contest before Jenna Brooks got under the basket to secure a layup and put the Bruins on the board. The Bruins worked to close the gap, and at the end of the first quarter trailed 20-15.
After exchanging buckets early in the second quarter, the Eagles went on a 9-2 run to take a 12 point lead. In the final two minutes of the first half, the Bruins battled to cut down the deficit as they outscored the Eagles 11 to three in the final moments before halftime. The two teams went into the locker rooms at the half with the Eagles leading 46-38.
A three-pointer by Dickerson halfway through the third quarter put the Bruins down by just three points. But Bob Jones couldn't hold on as the Eagles pulled back into a double digit advantage.
The Bruins were looking for a comeback to close out the contest. Shelby Epperson opened the scoring with five straight points. A minute layer, Kayley Trump sank a three-pointer followed by another Epperson bucket to put Bob Jones within three points. Dickerson sank another key three for the Bruins with four minutes on the clock to put the Bruins behind by two, the closest they'd been since the first quarter. It was Epperson again with the game-tying layup with 3:55 remaining. After PCC took the lead again, Imani Pouncey put down her shot from outside the arc to give the Bruins their first lead of the game with 3:06 left. It was an all-out battle until the very end with neither team wanting to give up points. With six seconds remaining, it was a one possession game. A foul was called on the Bruins and PCC went to the free throw line where they made both shots to go up by four points. At the buzzer, Dickerson threw up a good three-pointer, but it wasn't enough as the Bruins fell in the final 76-75 decision.
Following the game, Coach LeViere said, "today we saw our season low for turnovers, but the one area we got beat significantly was offensive rebounds. Oftentimes we played great defense, gave up the shot we wanted, but we couldn't finish the defensive possession by securing the rebound. That one stat, rebounding, is the difference in the game."
"This was a great game by the lady Bruins. The exciting thing is knowing we are still getting better and have the capacity to be so much better!"
Four Bruins finished the contest in double figures with Caitlyn Dickerson leading the way with 16 points.
The isn't much time for rest and recovery as the team is back on the court on Saturday for a 1 p.m. tip-off against Averett University in the Davis Field House.
