December 8, 2007

 

     Dayton, TN—On the heels of a tough loss at Montreat College on Tuesday evening, the Bryan Lady Lions were looking to regroup as they took on the Lady Cobras from Virginia Intermont College. The Lady Lions were playing without injured Guard Hillary Tipton for the second game in a row, and were struggling to find an identity on either end of the floor.

     In a loss, the Lions gave up 81 points to Montreat on the road, and Head Coach Jamy Bechler knew it would take a stronger defensive effort to win on Saturday evening. The AAC is much more balanced this year with teams ranging from 3-0 to 0-3 and many teams sandwiched in the middle at 2-1 or 1-2, the conference looks much different than in years past. Nevertheless, the Lady Lions were in no hurry to relinquish their title as Defending Conference Champions just yet.

     In a pretty evenly matched first half, the Lions shot just 38% while the Cobras shot 48%, well enough to keep themselves in the game. The Lady Lions struggled to finish around the basket, squandering an unbelievable 25-8 rebounding margin on the offensive glass, and missing chances to extend their lead before halftime. Despite the team’s struggles in the paint, Katie Davis shot well from the outside, giving the Lions a 4 point lead as they headed to the locker room.

     The second half was a story of offensive struggle for the Lady Lions as they produced their lowest field goal percentage of the season, hitting just 23% of the shots they took on 9 of 39 shooting. Many opportunities came around the bucket, and the Lady Lions were unable to convert offensive rebounds into points. Meanwhile, the Lady Cobras stayed on track, shooting 47% in the second half to outscore their hosts, 42-29 in the second frame.  For the Lions, Katie Davis (Pictured Above) finished with 16 points and 5 rebounds, while Courtney Swanson finished with 12 and 7 in the loss.

     Bryan was unable to recover from their offensive woes, and ended up falling at home 68-77 to Virginia Intermont, and more importantly falling to 1-3 in Appalachian Athletic Conference play. Head Coach Jamy Bechler was not pleased with his team’s performance: “We are a college basketball team, and we’re talented, but tonight we didn’t play like either of those things. We cannot pass up that many scoring chances anytime, but especially in conference play. This was a game we should have won. We turned the ball over 24 times, and that is entirely too much. We allowed them to shoot a high percentage; it was just a poor effort on our part. We’ll be looking to get after in practice and prepare for NAIA #3 Freed Hardeman who comes to play us on Saturday.”  

The Lady Lions of Bryan College will take on the visiting Lady Lions of FHU on Saturday afternoon in Summers Gymnasium. The Tip-Off is at 2PM.