Bryan News

The Lady Lions hosted the Lady Rams of Bluefield College on Saturday. Entering the week, the Lady Lions were recognized with a NAIA Top-25 ranking as they had sole possession of first place. Bluefield received votes in the most recent NAIA national poll, after beating AAC preseason favorites Union and Milligan last week. The Lady Lions lost 56-58 after the Lady Rams scored a basket in the final seconds.

There were 10 ties and 7 lead changes in a nip-and-tuck game. The largest lead was Bluefield's 27-21 lead with 1:00 to go in the first half. At halftime, the Lady Lions went into the locker room down 29-26. In the second half, the game remained close all the way to the end. After Bethany McArthur's two free throws tied the game at 56-56 with 0:29 left, Bluefield's Brittney Whaley drove the lane and hit a runner with 2.3 seconds remaining on the clock. The Lady Lions were unable to get off a shot in the remaining seconds.

The match-up pitted the two best rebounding teams in the nation. Bryan was #1 with a +22 rebounds per game margin, and Bluefield was 2nd with a +17 rebound per game margin. Bluefield also entered the game averaging 18 offensive rebounds per game. The Lady Lions did outrebound the Lady Rams 46-39. However, 24 of the Lady Rams' rebounds were offensive.

Bryan, a national top-10 free throw shooting team at 76%, picked a bad time to have their worst free throw shooting performance of the year. As usual, they got to the free-throw line more than their opponents; however, for the game they only shot 51% (16/31), including 4/10 in the last two minutes of the game.

Bluefield, the AAC's leader in steals, forced 25 Bryan College turnovers.

The Lions' defense did play well. Bluefield entered the game leading the AAC in scoring with 80 points per game, but Bryan held them to just 58 points. Also, Bluefield's Holly Hudson and Heather Ferrell both shot better than 40% from the 3-point line coming into the game, but Bryan's defenders limited them to a 0/2 day from long-range.

The Lady Lions were led in scoring by Anna Thomas, who had 14 points. Sarah Barnett and Amber Smith added 12 points apiece. Jessica Southern finished with a double-double, scoring 10 points while grabbing 12 rebounds.

Brittany Whaley led Bluefield with 14 points. She was the only Lady Ram to score in double digits.

Bryan Head Coach, Jamy Bechler, commented after the game: "This loss was tough to stomach. A number of girls put forth stellar performances. Jessica Southern played with a lot of energy and had one of her better games of the year. Bethany McArthur and Sara Barnett did a great job holding their two shooters to only 2 shots. We felt that if we could keep them from scoring then Bluefield could not score enough to beat us. However, when you give them 24 offensive rebounds and lots of second chance points, plus turn the ball over 25 times leading to a lot of easy baskets, that is the difference. Still, the bottom line is that we held them to 58 points and couldn't get the win. We didn't play strong down the stretch. Most people will say our free throws cost us the game. True, I didn't recognize who we were at the free throw line. But the offensive rebounds and the easy second chance baskets beat us. Our inability to get key rebounds hurt us for the second straight game. We are still a good team and have a lot of positive things going for us. We look forward to getting back at it on Wednesday. Our goal is to keep getting better and better and improving. I think that we will do this."

The Lady Lions are now 13-6 overall and 4-3 in the conference. The 3-point loss at Montreat and the last-second 2-point loss to Bluefield drops Bryan to a tie for 4th place in the ultra competitive AAC. They play again on Wednesday in another conference match at UVA-Wise. Tipoff is scheduled for 5:30pm ET.