Weekly Recap 2-17

Rickenberg has record breaking week, Bluffton finishes season with two home contests

 

By Ben Risinger, SID

February 17, 2004

   The Bluffton College women’s basketball team (1-22, 0-12 HCAC) was defeated in both games last week in HCAC play. The team dropped contests to Mount St. Joseph 76-47 and Anderson 79-59. The Beavers will finish the regular season with two home games this week as they host Defiance on Wednesday (7 pm) and Manchester on Saturday (2 pm).

Mount St. Joseph 76, Bluffton 47
   BLUFFTON, OHIO – The Bluffton College women’s basketball team (1-21, 0-11 HCAC) were defeated by Mount St. Joseph (10-11, 6-5 HCAC) 76-47 on Wednesday night.
   Bluffton led early in the first half 12-11 with 14:09 left in the period, which would be their final lead for the contest. The Beavers consistently stayed with the Lions in the first period by allowing MSJ’s their largest lead going into the half, 34-27. Things then took an ugly turn in the second as the Beavers struggled very early on. Mount St. Joseph went on a 22-2 run to start the second half of play. Bluffton came back around the 5:00 minute mark as they went on a quick 6-0 run but could not close the gap for the remainder of the game.
   Freshman Tanya Rickenberg (Defiance/Paulding) tied for the most points by a freshman in the history of Bluffton College with 312 for the season. The former record was held by Kristin Helvey who was a freshman in 1999. She also broke the free-throws made in a season record by accumulating 120 for the season to date. The former record of 114 was held by Paula Slaughter from the 1998-99 season. Rickenberg led the Beavers on the contest with 18 points and seven rebounds. Senior Lindsay Bacon (Troy/Troy) posted 11 points with junior Lindsey Delscamp (Germantown/Madison) having her second consecutive double digit game with 10 points.
   Mount St. Joe led the game in rebounds as they pulled down 48 compared to Bluffton’s 27 for the game. The Lions shot 43 percent for the contest with Bluffton shooting 30 percent. Turnovers hurt the Beavers again as they posted 25 to the Mount’s 14.  The Lions would convert 34 points off of Bluffton turnovers for the game.

Anderson 79, Bluffton 59
   ANDERSON, IND. – The Bluffton College women’s basketball team (1-22, 0-12 HCAC) were defeated at Anderson University (14-8, 7-5 HCAC) 79-59 Saturday afternoon.
   The Beavers started the game by scoring the first two points off a jumper by Senior Lindsay Bacon (Troy/Troy). Anderson quickly answered back and took the lead for good early in the game. Bacon along with Freshman Tanya Rickenberg (Defiance/Paulding) combined to score 17 of the Beavers 19 total first half points.  Bluffton shot only 20.7 percent (6 for 29) from the floor in the period compared to Anderson’s 50 percent. The halftime score was 40-19 in favor of the Ravens.
   Early on in the second half, Anderson pushed its lead to 27 with 17:23 to play, but over the next 12 minutes the Beavers were able to chip away and get within 13 points of the Ravens. Bluffton was not able to close the gap, however, and the Ravens pushed the lead back to 20 with 1:26 left in the contest.
   Rickenberg became the all-time freshman points leader in Bluffton history with her 25 for the game. Currently, her season total is at 337, which broke the previous record of 325 held by Kristin Helvey. This was her fourth career 20-point game as a freshman.
   Also leading the Beavers on the day was Bacon who chipped in 18 points.  Senior Kelsey Studer (Delta/Delta) led Bluffton’s rebounding effort with eight boards.

Beavers in the Heartland Conference
   As a team Bluffton leads the conference in blocked shots, averaging 5.74 per game.  Freshman Tanya Rickenberg continues to rank in several Heartland Conference categories. Rickenberg ranks 6th in the conference in scoring (14.7 points per game), 14th in rebounding (5.2 per game), 3rd in assists (3.96 per game), 5th in defensive rebounding (4.35 per game) and 12th in free throw percentage (70 percent). Sophomore Karin Schaller continues to lead the country in blocked shots, averaging 5.5 blocks per game (leads HCAC). Schaller ranks 18th in scoring (9.7 points per game), 3rd in rebounding (9.9 boards per game), 12th in field goal percentage (43 percent), 4th in offensive rebounds (2.95 per game) and leads the conference in defensive rebounds, averaging 6.95 per game. Senior Lindsay Bacon is tied for 11th in scoring (11.7 points per game) and 2nd in 3-point field goals made, averaging 1.95 per game.