February 19, 2008

 

                Dayton, TN—The Lady Lions were faced with the challenge of trying to stop AAC scoring leader Brooke Smith on Tuesday night as the Union College Lady Bulldogs came to town looking to make a run at the AAC Regular Season Championship. Smith came into the game averaging 24 points a game, good enough for second in the nation in NAIA Div. II. Smith is the leader of a balanced attack that boasts three players with 1,000 or more career points. Bryan lost to the Lady Bulldogs earlier in the year by 7 points in a closely contested ballgame, and would need to play well again if they were to upset the Lady Bulldogs.

                Bryan shut down Smith, limiting her to one of her lowest totals of the season with 6 total points. Lady Lions’ Head Coach Jamy Bechler tried an unorthodox way of defending Smith, and it definitely paid off: Rather than playing a post player on the 6’ Smith, Bechler chose Lady Lions’ PG KeKe Bean to harass the Bulldogs star all night long. The Lady Lions managed to frustrate Smith, holding her to zero first half points and hanging close with the Lady Bulldogs, heading to the locker room at half-time down 7, 36-29.

                Bryan continued to shut down Smith in the 2^nd half, but Lady Bulldogs Guard Allison Fowler picked up the slack, adding 12 points to her 1^st half total of 16 to finish with a game-high 28. For the Lady Lions, Katie Davis again led the way with a team-high 25 points (15 in the 2^nd half) and 8 rebounds. Bryan tried to make a run in the 2^nd half to take a lead, but Union got hot from beyond the arc, hitting 3 treys late in the game to pull away for the victory 68-54.

Lady Lion Coach Jamy Bechler was disappointed with the loss: “Union is a very good team.  They have an all-american down low but just as lethal are their perimeter shooters.  We chose to focus on shutting down Brooke Smith.  Keke Bean and Jasmean Benford did a great job of limiting her touches.  However, the perimeter players hurt us.  We tried to play a box-and-1 but we just didn’t get out on the shooters quick enough.  For us, Katie Davis had another stellar game.  She did a really good job of getting to the basket tonight.  Amber and Courtney did a good job on the boards.  All in all, we had too many turnovers and gave up too many easy shots to beat an experienced team like Union.  We will be very good but right now we are still young.”

                The loss drops the Lady Lions to 10-18 (7-10 in AAC Action), and was the last home game of the year.  The team will now travel to Bristol, VA on Saturday to close out the regular season at King College.