Lady Lions Beat #1 Milligan Behind Davis' Big Night 80-63
February 9, 2008
Dayton, TN—The Bryan College Lady Lions seem to be getting hot at just the right time of year: With the AAC regular season winding down and post-season play on the horizon, the Lady Lions had won 5 in a row and were looking to make it 6 on Saturday evening. A win would be no easy task as the Lady Lions squared off against the Milligan College Lady Buffs, the AAC’s top rated team. Milligan had defeated the Lady Lions earlier in the year up in Johnson City, TN, but the Lady Lions were struggling to find an identity at the time. The team that took the floor on Saturday for Bryan Head Coach Jamy Bechler appeared to know exactly who they were and what it would take to bring down the #1 Lady Buffs.
Bryan got out on Milligan early and never looked back, shooting 53% from the floor while holding the Lady Buffs to just 31% shooting in the first half. Becca Morris was the star of the 1st half for Bryan, hitting 4 big 3-pointers and finishing the half with 13 points. Bryan led by as many as 20 in the early going, and would take a 42-26 lead into halftime. Milligan is led by the post play of Rikki Baughman, who got off to a good start as well, finishing the 1st half with 12 points. Baughman kept the Lady Buffs in the game, as every Lady Lion who played except one scored in the first half.
The Lady Lions cooled of considerably in the second half, but continued to maintain a large lead as they were nearly perfect from the free throw line. Katie Davis had an unbelievable second half, after remaining fairly quiet in the first half. Davis had 6 points at the break, but went off the second half for 15 points and grabbed 8 boards. After being named last week’s NCCAA National Player of the Week as well as AAC Player of The Week, Davis’ play has not only not dropped off, but it has improved. In addition to her game-high 21 points and 12 rebounds, Davis just barely missed a triple-double, finishing with 8 assists. It seems the junior saved her best performance of the year for when the Lady Lions needed it most. When the dust settled, Bryan had defeated the Lady Buffs soundly, 80-73.
In knocking off the #1 Lady Buffs, the Lady Lions continued their roll, the win being their 6th straight and has sent AAC coaches scrambling to find an answer for the red-hot lady lions. Despite their early season struggles, Bryan is the last team other coaches want of their schedule right now, and has positioned themselves to make a run deep into the post-season.
Jamy Bechler spoke about his team’s performance after the big win: “This was one of the most satisfying wins I have been involved in as a basketball coach. Milligan is a very good team. There is a reason that they were number one going into this game, but our girls played great today. The effort was fantastic. The girls seemed to get every loose ball; they took charges, they controlled the boards, they moved their feet on defense. It was just a clinic in effort. I couldn’t be happier with their heart and desire today. What makes part of the win so great is that we didn’t shoot the lights out but still beat a great team. It was a total team effort today. Jessica got us some key offensive rebounds, as usual. Becca knocked down some big three’s in the first half and Amber Smith just went to work on the inside down the stretch when Milligan was making a run at us—the girls really did a good job feeding it to our post players. Katie had another good game as she just missed a triple-double once again.”
Other Notables for the Lady Lions: Becca Morris finished with 16 points while Amber Smith poured in 13 points and grabbed 5 rebounds. Jessica Southern scored 10 points and grabbed 7 rebounds, helping the Lions to their 14-rebound edge over Milligan (52-38). The Lady Lions held Baughman to just 7 second half points, and hit 10 out of 11 free throws in the second half.
Date: 2/9/2008 Arena: Summers Gym
Time: 5:30 pm City, State: Dayton, TN
VISITOR: Milligan College ( 15-11)
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
NO PLAYER P FG FGA FG FGA FT FTA OFF DEF TOT PF TP A TO BK S MIN
5 White, Brit * 2 5 1 4 3 5 1 2 3 4 8 3 2 0 0 27-
21 Anderson, Leah * 3 5 1 3 0 0 1 1 2 4 7 0 4 0 3 20+
23 Baughman, Rikki * 7 11 1 2 4 8 3 7 10 0 19 2 1 2 3 32+
34 Mandela, Heather * 4 8 0 0 3 4 0 4 4 1 11 1 4 1 1 23-
42 Kilgore, Brittany * 6 10 2 6 0 0 0 2 2 4 14 5 2 1 0 23+
11 Ensor, Renee 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 2 0 1 2 1 4 13+
12 Wooley, Britney 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1+
22 Monk, Kara 0 6 0 4 0 0 1 0 1 3 0 3 3 0 0 17+
24 Sparks, Hali 1 5 0 1 0 1 2 2 4 0 2 3 3 0 0 23-
32 Pezzimenti, Rose 0 2 0 2 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 4+
33 Muniz, Sarah 1 6 0 4 0 0 0 2 2 0 2 0 0 0 1 14+
52 Oliver, Lydia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1+
TEAM REBOUNDS 3 4 7 0
Team Totals 24 59 5 27 10 18 13 25 38 18 63 18 22 5 13 199
Total FG% - 1st: 9/29 0.310 2nd: 15/30 0.500 Game: 0.407 Deadball
3-PT FG% - 1st: 1/13 0.077 2nd: 4/14 0.286 Game: 0.185 Rebounds
Total FT% - 1st: 7/11 0.636 2nd: 3/7 0.429 Game: 0.556 (0,0)
HOME: Bryan College ( 10-15)
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
NO PLAYER P FG FGA FG FGA FT FTA OFF DEF TOT PF TP A TO BK S MIN
00 Swanson, Courtney F 1 7 0 3 2 2 1 2 3 3 4 0 0 0 0 20-
22 Southern, Jessica F 4 10 0 2 2 3 3 4 7 3 10 1 3 0 3 29+
10 Bean, KeKe G 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 4 2 3 2 0 4 21-
12 Carswell, Kaylin G 2 12 0 4 4 5 3 4 7 2 8 2 0 0 2 25+
14 Davis, Katie G 8 22 1 7 4 6 5 7 12 1 21 8 4 0 2 36+
11 Vork, Wendy 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 6-
15 Morris, Becca 5 10 5 9 1 2 2 1 3 0 16 3 3 0 1 26+
24 Brown, Rhea 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1-
32 Benford, Jasmean 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1-
34 Raburn, Ashley 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 1-
42 Copeland, Lauren 2 4 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 4 2 1 0 0 13+
44 Dobler, Galyn 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1-
55 Smith, Amber 6 7 0 0 1 2 3 2 5 3 13 1 2 0 0 20-
TEAM REBOUNDS 0 0 0 0
Team Totals 30 75 6 25 14 20 18 22 40 17 80 22 18 0 13 200
Total FG% - 1st: 17/32 0.531 2nd: 13/43 0.302 Game: 0.400 Deadball
3-PT FG% - 1st: 4/12 0.333 2nd: 2/13 0.154 Game: 0.240 Rebounds
Total FT% - 1st: 4/9 0.444 2nd: 10/11 0.909 Game: 0.700 (0,0)
Technical Fouls: MC (0)
: Bryan (0)
OFFICIALS :
ATTENDANCE : 300
SCORE BY PERIODS 1st 2nd TOTAL
Milligan College 26 37 63
Bryan College 42 38 80