The Lady Lions hosted the Union College Lady Bulldogs on Wednesday night. The Lady Lions got back on track, defeating the #RV Lady Bulldogs 70-68. The win avenged their loss from earlier in the season while Amber Smith was still in volleyball.
The Lady Lions jumped out to a 12-0 lead to start the game. Union cut into the lead, but the Lions went into the locker room at halftime leading 42-33. Bryan jumped out to an early lead when they played at Union earlier in the season, but were unable to maintain the lead once foul trouble set in.
In the second half, the Lady Bulldogs made a comeback. There were four lead changes in the half. The Lions pulled ahead in the last minute and hit their free throws to keep the lead. Union had the ball down three with just a few seconds left in the game. Bryan fouled them with .4 seconds left to send the Bulldogs to the line for double-bonus at the free throw line. The Union player hit the first free throw to cut it two. She missed the second attempt on purpose, but the rebound was tapped into the air and the time on the clock expired, giving the Lady Lions the victory.
Bryan scored 16 points from the free throw line for the game, which was as many attempts as Union took from the charity stripe. The Lady Lions once again outrebounded their opponent, grabbing 48 compared to Union's 29. Bryan's bench outscored their opponents bench 28-11. The Lady Lions had 11 less turnovers than the first time they played against Union.
Cori Jones led the Lady Lions in scoring with 16 points while dishing out 5 assists. Anna Thomas came off the bench to have a double-double, scoring 12 points while grabbing 11 rebounds. Amber Smith also scored 12 points while grabbing 7 rebounds. Jessica Southern added 10 points and 6 rebounds.
Carley Blankenship led Union with 20 points. The Lady Lions held Union's Brooke Smith, who averages 22 points and 9 rebounds per game and is 2x AAC Player of the Year and 3rd Team All-American post player, to just 15 points and 3 rebounds. They only allowed her 4 points in the second half.
Bryan Head Coach Jamy Bechler commented, "I am proud of the way our girls came out to play from the start of the game. Hillary Tipton started this game and gave us a lot of energy, and handled the ball effectively. Our veterans got our team fired up. Anna Thomas came off the bench for us tonight and created a great spark for us. Cori Jones had a great game for us, not just scoring, but also getting her teammates involved in the offense. Post players Sarah Newton and Amber Smith did a great job of limiting Brooke Smith's touches. She scored only 15 points and 6 of those were from the 3-point arc. Our team didn't quit. Union is perhaps the most talented team in our conference and when they went ahead by 3 with a couple minutes to go, we easily could have cashed it in, but we didn't. Our girls showed a lot of character tonight from start to finish. It was nice to see all of their preparation for this game pay off."
The Lady Lions are now 14-8 overall and 5-5 in the conference. They play again on Saturday at home in a non-conference game against Covenant College. Tipoff is scheduled for 2:00pm ET.
