Weekly Recap 2-3

Bluffton makes positives on week in Heartland Conference contests

 

By Ben Risinger, SID

February 3, 2004

   The Bluffton College women’s basketball team (1-18, 0-8 HCAC) is still looking for their first Heartland Conference victory. Last week the Beavers were defeated by rival Defiance College 94-60 and Hanover College 73-62. This week the Beavers will be at home to host the Franklin College Grizzlies. Tip off for the game is scheduled for 7 pm. On Saturday Bluffton will travel down south to Transylvania University. Game time is scheduled for 2 pm.

DEFIANCE 94, BLUFFTON 60
DEFIANCE, OHIO – The Bluffton College women’s basketball team (1-17, 0-7 HCAC) were defeated by rival Defiance College (14-4, 6-1 HCAC) 94-60 on Wednesday night.

The game started off on a bright point for the Beavers as they would lead in the first half by as many as five points, 25-20 at the 7:00 mark. Defiance answered back to tighten Bluffton’s lead to 31-29 with 1:36 left in the first period. The Yellow Jackets would then capitalize off of missed shots to head into the locker room on top, 34-31.

The Beavers second half took another direction as Defiance would start converting turnovers into points. For the game the Yellow Jackets scored 30 points off of Bluffton turnovers. In the middle of the second half Defiance would go on a 10-0 run to help solidify their score. Bluffton could not overcome the lead for the rest of the game.

Leading Bluffton was freshman Tanya Rickenberg (Defiance/Paulding) with 18 points for the game. Sophomore Karin Schaller (Jenera/Arlington) posted 13 points, a team high seven rebounds and seven blocks for the night. Senior Lindsay Bacon (Troy/Troy) finished the double figures with 12 points.

Bluffton shot 41 percent for the game to Defiance’s 49 percent. The Yellow Jackets out rebounded Bluffton 46-27 on the contest. The Beavers committed 18 turnovers to Defiance’s nine.

HANOVER 73, BLUFFTON 62
BLUFFTON, OHIO – The Bluffton College women’s basketball team (1-18, 0-8 HCAC) was defeated by Hanover College (9-9, 4-4 HCAC) 73-62 Saturday afternoon in Founders Hall.

Like many other games this year, the Beavers played a solid first half.  Early on senior Lindsay Bacon (Troy/Troy) hit a 3 pointer that sparked the Beavers to shoot a .536 percentage compared to Hanover’s .379 percentage in the first period. Bacon led the team in scoring at halftime with 13 points.  The Beavers out rebounded Hanover 18 to 11 in the first half as well which led to a halftime score of 34-27 in favor of Bluffton.

The second half was tough on Bluffton as they would shoot 9 of 31 from the floor and end the game with a .407 shooting percentage. Hanover outscored Bluffton 46 to 28 in the second half which led to the final score of 73-62.  Bluffton went cold from the 3-point line too shooting 0 for 6 in the second period.  Hanover tied the game with 11:47 remaining to play and ended up taking the lead for good on a 3 pointer by Angela Newkirk at the 10:49 mark. 

Senior Kelsey Studer (Delta/Delta) had a career day for the Beavers.  She finished with 12 points, 12 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 steals (all career highs).  Studer’s rebounding effort helped Bluffton to dominate the boards with 45 rebounds compared to Hanover’s 35.

Leading Bluffton on the day was freshman Tanya Rickenberg (Defiance/Paulding) with 20 points, 9 assists and 4 rebounds (third career 20 point game).  Sophomore Karin Schaller (Jenera/Arlington) led the team in rebounding with 13 boards and six blocks.  Bacon finished with 13 points ending the double figure scoring for BC.

Beavers in the Heartland Conference
TEAM STATISTICS
   Bluffton as a team, currently ranks first in the Heartland Conference, with125 blocked shots on the season. The Beavers rank fourth in field goal percentage defense by holding opponents to a .382 shooting mark.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS  
   Senior Lindsay Bacon ranks 2nd on Bluffton’s squad in scoring and 12th in the HCAC with 11.6 points per game. Bacon also leads Bluffton and ranks 2nd in the HCAC with 2.00 3-pointers per game (36 for season). Sophomore Karin Schaller currently leads the conference and NCAA Division III in blocks with 109 for the season (5.74 per game). She leads the HCAC in defensive rebounds per game, averaging 7.26, and is 4th in offensive rebounding (3.00 per game). In overall rebounding she is 2nd in the HCAC, pulling down 10.3 boards per game. Schaller also adds 10.3 points per game, which places her at 18th in the league (3rd on team). Freshman Tanya Rickenberg currently leads the Beavers in scoring and ranks 5th in scoring with 14.6 points per game. Rickenberg also ranks 11th in rebounding in the HCAC with 5.4 rebounds per game and 2nd in assists, averaging 4.11 per game.