Weekly Recap 1-6

Bluffton wins first of season; Karin Schaller named Co- Heartland Conference player of week

 

By Ben Risinger, SID

1-6-04

 

   The Bluffton College women’s basketball team (1-10) picked up their first victory of the season on Saturday when they defeated Lake Erie College 68-50. Last Monday the Beavers were defeated by Olivet College 76-41 and Tuesday the team battled Adrian and lost 68-42.

   Sophomore Karin Schaller was named Co-Heartland Conference player of the week for her efforts. Schaller broke her own single game block record on Saturday when she knocked down nine shots for the contest.

 

Olivet 76, Bluffton 41

   The Bluffton College women’s basketball team was defeated by Olivet 76-41 Monday evening. Bluffton is now 0-9 on the season.

The Beavers fell to a 43-19 point deficit at the end of the first half in which they shot a dismal 23.8 percent from the field. Bluffton improved their shooting to 37.5 percent from the field in the second half but were still out-scored by Olivet by a 33-22 margin.

Freshman Tanya Rickenberg (Defiance/Paulding) had yet another strong performance for Bluffton posting a team leading 15 points on the day. Karin Schaller (Jenera/Arlington) closely followed with 14 points and a team high nine rebounds. Schaller added two blocks to her ever-growing single season record which now stands at 49.

Adrian 68, Bluffton 42
   The Bluffton College women’s basketball team (0-10) fell to the Adrian Bulldogs (4-6) 68-42 on Tuesday afternoon.

   Leading the Beavers in scoring for the day was senior Lindsay Bacon (Troy/Troy) with 13 points. Freshman Tanya Rickenberg posted 12 points and a career high nine rebounds. Junior Christina Champion (Oregon/Clay) had a career high seven boards for the day.

   Bluffton shot 30 percent for the game compared to Adrian’s 42 percent.

 

Bluffton 68, Lake Erie 50

   The Bluffton College women’s basketball team (1-10) picked up their first win of the season at home on Saturday afternoon by defeating Lake Erie College (1-7) 68-50.

   “The team finally deserves to get a win. If we play like we did today there really is no team that we can’t beat,” Head Coach Amanda Curtis said. “I’m very proud of the way that the team played. We didn’t have the mental mistakes that hurt us. Now, going into the conference season we can have some momentum and confidence that we can beat our opponents.”

   There were many positives for the contest too. Senior Lindsay Bacon (Troy/Troy) threw in a career high 25 points. Freshman Tanya Rickenberg had 15 points and six assists. Junior Christina Champion had career highs with points (11), rebounds (9) and assists (4). Finishing the double digits for Bluffton was Sophomore Karin Schaller with 10 points and 18 boards for the double-double. Schaller broke her single game block record with nine for the contest. She surpassed her old record of eight for the season.

   Lake Erie led with the first bucket of the game, but did not lead for the rest of the contest on Saturday. The Beavers shot 42 percent for the game compared to Lake Erie’s 30 percent. Bluffton also led the battle of the boards with 52 rebounds to The Storm’s 28. Bluffton had season highs in points with 68 and free throws made (23).

 

   Leading the team in scoring for the season is Tanya Rickenberg averaging 12.7 points per game which is good for seventh in the HCAC in scoring. She also leads the team in assists with 51 for the year (third in HCAC). Karin Schaller averages 11.3 ppg (11th in HCAC), leads the team in rebounds with 119 (leads conference) and blocks with 60 (leads conference). Lindsay Bacon is the other Beaver averaging in double figures with 11.8 ppg (ninth in HCAC). She is 17-for-21 from the free throw line for .810 percent.