TWC's Hot Shooting 2nd Half Dooms Lady Lions
February 12, 2008
Athens, TN—The Tennessee Wesleyan Lady Bulldogs withstood an early onslaught by the hot Bryan College Lady Lions, winners of six straight coming into Tuesday night’s game, and made a run in the second half to half the Lady Lions’ streak at six.
After a big first half which saw the Lady Lions jump out to a 21-8 lead in the early going, the two teams settled into a steadier pace and TWC began to cut into the deficit. Big first half efforts from Becca Morris and Amber Smith allowed the Lady Lions to keep their lead right around 10 points for most of the first half, and as the teams headed for the locker room, Bryan held a 9 point advantage over the host Lady Bulldogs.
Neither team shot very well in the first half, both hitting about 40% of their shots from the floor; however it was the Lady Lions hustle and hard work on the offensive glass, led by Jessica Southern, which allowed them to lead at the break. Bryan got balanced offensive production in the first half, as both Smith and Morris had 8 points a piece, and Katie Davis, Jessica Southern and Courtney Swanson had 7 points in the first half. TWC outshot the Lions, but Bryan had 13 second chance opportunities in the first half, taking advantage of those opportunities and keeping the Lady Bulldogs at bay.
Wesleyan opened the second half with a 12-4 run to open the second half, cutting the Lady Lions lead down to 1 and beginning a second half that would see many lead changes and ties before all was said and done. Wesleyan took their first lead of the game at the 14:50 mark, going up 44-43 before a Katie Davis 3-pointer put Bryan right back on top. From that point on, the Lady Bulldogs got hot from beyond the arc, hitting 7 second half threes and taking a 5 point lead with 5 minutes to play.
Bryan would battle down the stretch, eventually cutting the lead to 1 with :50 to play, but TWC added a layup and Bryan couldn’t answer. The Lady Bulldogs would add two more free throws and escape at home with a 5 point victory, 71-66. The loss was the first in over two weeks for the Lady Lions, who will now regroup and prepare for a big Saturday matchup with longtime rival Covenant College.
Lions Head Coach Jamy Bechler was not pleased with his team’s effort in the second half, and felt like they let a win slip away: “This was a game of two halves. We were two different teams. The first half we played with energy and played good defense, much like the Milligan game on Saturday. However, the 2nd half was much different. We just didn’t move our feet or communicate on defense. Wesleyan just out played us late in the game. They wanted it more than we did. Once again, Katie had a good floor game and took care of the basketball. Courtney Swanson and Becca Morris played solid defense and got us going offensively in the first half. Jessica crashed the boards hard and gave many second chance opportunities. We must turn our attention to Covenant on Saturday.”
Notables: Katie Davis has averaged just under a triple double over the Lady Lions last 4 games. She finished with 15 pts, 8 rb and 9 assists. Amber Smith finished with 14 points and 5 rebounds, and Courtney Swanson had 13 points and 7 rebounds in the loss. Tennessee Wesleyan shot 55% from the floor in the second half, and an astounding 64% from beyond the arc.
Date: 2/12/2008 Arena:
Time: 5:30 pm City, State: Athens, TN
VISITOR: Bryan College ( 10-16)
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 6 14 1 3 0 2 3 4 7 0 13 2 1 0 0 29+
22 Southern, Jessica F 3 7 0 0 3 4 5 3 8 2 9 1 3 0 0 29-
10 Bean, KeKe G 1 3 0 0 0 0 1 2 3 3 2 6 4 0 3 32-
12 Carswell, Kaylin G 1 5 0 2 0 0 1 0 1 3 2 1 1 0 0 23
14 Davis, Katie G 6 16 3 9 0 0 4 4 8 1 15 9 1 0 2 35+
15 Morris, Becca 4 10 3 8 0 0 1 0 1 0 11 1 3 0 1 22+
42 Copeland, Lauren 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 4+
55 Smith, Amber 5 12 0 0 4 4 2 3 5 1 14 1 0 1 0 25+
TEAM REBOUNDS 5 5 10 0
Team Totals 26 69 7 22 7 10 22 22 44 10 66 21 13 1 6 200
Total FG% - 1st: 16/41 0.390 2nd: 10/28 0.357 Game: 0.377 Deadball
3-PT FG% - 1st: 4/15 0.267 2nd: 3/7 0.429 Game: 0.318 Rebounds
Total FT% - 1st: 3/4 0.750 2nd: 4/6 0.667 Game: 0.700 (0,0)
HOME: Tennessee Wesleyan Colleg ( 10-16)
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
NO PLAYER P FG FGA FG FGA FT FTA OFF DEF TOT PF TP A TO BK S MIN
3 Armstrong, Hailey * 3 5 2 3 0 0 1 2 3 1 8 3 1 0 0 23+
21 Frazier, Leah * 0 2 0 2 0 0 1 2 3 0 0 5 0 1 0 24-
24 Sitzlar, Rachel * 6 10 0 0 2 2 2 7 9 2 14 2 0 4 0 24+
25 Jackson, Lindsey * 5 8 2 5 2 2 1 3 4 0 14 2 3 0 1 31-
33 Patterson, Jennifer * 3 10 1 4 0 0 0 1 1 0 7 2 2 0 1 20-
4 Castor, Amy Jo 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 3 2 1 0 0 7+
5 Pelham, Leanne 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1+
10 Blevins, Katie 1 3 1 2 0 0 1 2 3 0 3 5 3 0 0 16+
12 Burrell, Ashton 3 7 2 4 0 0 1 0 1 3 8 1 1 0 1 14+
23 Mowery, Ashley 2 4 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 4 0 1 0 0 13+
32 Sweat, Jessica 5 10 0 0 0 0 1 3 4 3 10 2 1 0 1 25+
TEAM REBOUNDS 0 2 2 0
Team Totals 29 60 9 22 4 4 9 23 32 9 71 24 13 5 4 200
Total FG% - 1st: 13/31 0.419 2nd: 16/29 0.552 Game: 0.483 Deadball
3-PT FG% - 1st: 2/11 0.182 2nd: 7/11 0.636 Game: 0.409 Rebounds
Total FT% - 1st: 2/2 1.000 2nd: 2/2 1.000 Game: 1.000 (0,0)
Technical Fouls: Bryan (0)
: TWC (0)
OFFICIALS :
ATTENDANCE : 0
SCORE BY PERIODS 1st 2nd TOTAL
Bryan College 39 27 66
Tennessee Wesleyan Colleg 30 41 71
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