Bryan News

The Lady Lions traveled to Barbourville, KY, on Thursday night to take on the Lady Bulldogs of Union College in the quarterfinals of the AAC tournament. The Lady Lions entered the game as the number seven seed, while the Lady Bulldogs were the second seed. The two teams split during the regular season, with each team winning at home. Unfortunately, the trend continued as the Lady Lions fell 69-60.

The Lady Lions struggled to stop Union out of the gate as the Lady Bulldogs slowly pulled away in the first half. Shooting 53.3% from the floor and hitting 7 of their 15 3-point attempts, Union built their largest lead of the game up to 17 points with 3:49 left in the first half. The Lady Lions went into the locker room at halftime down 43-29.

In the second half, the Lady Lions fought hard to make a comeback. Holding the Lady Bulldogs to just one 3-pointer in the second half, the Lady Lions outscored Union 31-26. Bryan pulled to within 5 points with about 9 minutes left to play, but that was as close as they could get.

Bryan and Union are the top two teams in the AAC for free throw attempts, but neither team got to the line as much as usual, as the Lady Lions went 12/18 and the Lady Bulldogs went 11/17. Bryan won the battle on the boards once again as they tallied 46 boards to Union's 29, 21-6 on the offensive boards.

Amber Smith led the Lady Lions in scoring with 21 points, 13 of which came in the first half. Bethany McArthur returned from a five-game absence to hit on 3/6 from long-range, adding 10 points. Jessica Southern grabbed 13 rebounds to go with her 8 points and 4 assists. Anna Thomas finished with 7 points and 8 rebounds.

Brooke Smith, AAC Player of the Year, led all scoring with 29 points.

Bryan Head Coach Jamy Bechler commented after the game, "The girls battled and played their hearts out in the second half. Unfortunately, we dug ourselves a big hole at halftime. We came out of the gate focused, but Union just hit too many long range shots. They played the first half like conference champions. However, we didn't give up. Amber Smith was strong inside, and Jessica Southern continued her warrior-like effort. She has been very consistent throughout the second half of the year and tonight was no exception. She also had 0 turnovers despite having to handle the ball quite a bit against Union's pressure. Additionally, Cori Jones did a nice job of handling pressure at the point guard."

The Lady Lions end the season with an overall record of 16-14.