| Special to: The Bluffton News (Jan. 16), The Witmarsum (Jan. 17), Alumni e-newsletter (Jan. 14), but you read it here first. |
The Bluffton College women’s basketball team suffered two defeats in a pair of Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference games last week. Bluffton now falls to 1-12 on the year and 0-5 in the HCAC.
BC plays its next two games at home against Thomas More on Wed. at 7:30 and Transylvania on Sat. at 2 p.m. before taking the road against HCAC rival Defiance on Jan. 22.
Bluffton 42, Franklin 92
Bluffton was handed a 92-42 loss at Franklin last Wed. night as the Beavers returned to HCAC action.
Senior Melissa James led the Beavers with 10 points, while freshman Mandy Wightman and sophomore Cara Young both chipped in eight points. Junior Karen Harris added five points and grabbed a game-high six rebounds.
Bluffton tied a season-high with 13 steals in the game and improved their shooting percentage by nearly 10% in the second half, but Franklin improved theirs by over 14% to deny the Beavers a chance to get back into the game after the Grizzlies took a 41-18 lead at halftime.
James hit a 3-pointer to give Bluffton a 3-2 lead after three minutes had gone by in the game, but it would be BC’s last lead.
Bluffton 48, Anderson 76
Bluffton put together a strong second half performance against Anderson Sat. afternoon in Founders Hall, but the Ravens’ big halftime lead was too much to overcome as the Beavers fell 76-48.
Bluffton out-rebounded Anderson 35-32 and evidence of BC’s strong play was the fact that the Beavers went to the free throw line a season-high 30 times, converting on a season-high 19 of those chances.
However, Anderson, which improves to 11-2 overall and 3-1 in the HCAC, was 27-for-32 from the line, which marked the most freebies allowed by BC this season. AU held Bluffton to a season-low 14 made field goals and one 3-pointer.
Senior Lyndsey Robinson led Bluffton with 18 points and her eight rebounds shared team-high rebounding honors with James, who scored 12 points. Harris added eight points.
Bluffton held Anderson junior Angel Hall to 16 points, which was eight points below her league-leading average of 23.9 points per game. AU senior Kelly McMillan, who scored 37 points in their last game, scored a game-high 25 points Saturday.
