| Special to: The Bluffton News (Feb. 6), The Witmarsum (Feb. 7), Alumni e-newsletter (Feb. 4), but you read it here first. |
As the Bluffton College women’s basketball team heads into their last month of the season, they do so with great momentum. Last week, the Beavers earned their first home and Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference victories of the year, and came up just a bit short of their second. On Wed. night, Bluffton defeated Manchester 75-65 to set a new HCAC scoring high for the season. On Sat. afternoon, the Beavers almost came up with a big upset as they fell to Mount St. Joseph 70-67.
Bluffton will get a much deserved break this week as they are off on Wed. and will not play again until Sat., when they will try to carry their momentum to Anderson to take on the Ravens at 2 p.m. The Beavers will be looking to improve upon their record of 2-17 overall and 1-9 in the HCAC.
BC is ranked first in the HCAC in 3-pt. field goal defense with a .263 percentage. The Beavers are tied for third in blocked shots with an average of 2.9 per game, and are also tied for third in defensive rebounding, averaging 26.8 per game. Seniors Lyndsey Robinson and Melissa James are ranked fifth and sixth in the HCAC in rebounding, averaging 7.1 and 6.9 respectively. Senior Kristen Siller is tied for second in the league in free throw percentage with a .857 percentage.
Jan. 29: BC 75, Manchester 65
After several near-misses at a home victory earlier this season, Bluffton put together a complete game from start to finish Wed. night and earned a 75-65 win over Manchester College in Founders Hall.
James scored a team-high 17 points and hit several key jumpers in transition to keep Bluffton in the lead throughout the second half. She added eight rebounds. Robinson dominated the glass throughout the game, finishing with 15 boards to collect her ninth career double-double. She ended with 13 points, as did junior Karen Harris, who added four assists and knifed through the Spartan defense for layups the whole game.
Junior Lindsay Bacon, who is nearly back to 100% after missing 11 games with a leg injury earlier in the season, finished with 12 points and tied a career high with three 3-pointers. Siller chipped in nine points, all coming from the free throw line.
Feb. 1: BC 67, Mount St. Joseph 70
Bluffton nearly pulled off a huge win over a talented Mount St. Joseph squad Sat. afternoon in Founders Hall, but the visiting Lions pulled out a 70-67 win over the Beavers.
Bluffton trailed by as many as 12 points early in the second half but came all the way back to tie the game at 54-54 with 5:15 left to play. Robinson, who collected her 10th career double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds, hit a jumper to tie the score again at 56-56, but The Mount went on a 6-0 run at that point to lead 62-56 with 2:31 left.
In the final two minutes, Robinson, Bacon and James then all made foul shots and sophomore Cara Young connected on a bucket with 47 seconds left to bring Bluffton within two points at 64-62. Bacon made two more free throws with 34 seconds left to bring the Beavers within one points at 65-64, but MSJ made three free throws to go up by four points with five seconds to go.
Bacon then nailed a 3-pointer from the left corner with one tick remaining to bring the deficit back to one at 68-67, but MSJ made both free throws immediately after that and BC was unable to get off a shot at the final buzzer.
Young scored a career-high 12 points to match Robinson for team-high honors, while Siller added 10 points to be the third BC player in double figures. James chipped in eight points and grabbed seven boards and Bacon ended the game with eight points.
