December 8, 2016
BLUFFTON, Ohio - A second straight road weekend will see the Bluffton University basketball teams head to Terre Haute, Ind., for a Heartland Conference doubleheader with the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology on Saturday, Dec. 10. The Beavers kicked off HCAC play with a split at Transylvania University last Saturday before sweeping Earlham College at separate venues on Wednesday night.
Following three straight close victories to open the season, the Bluffton women have dialed up the defensive pressure in their last three games en route to a 30-point average margin of victory (83-53). The Beavers have received stout contributions from the bench with the starters averaging just over 20 minutes a game during the last three victories. A 2-0 start in the Sommer Center has the women on a school-record 18-game home winning streak, dating back nearly 23 months to January 31, 2015 when Hanover defeated the home team 96-86.
Bluffton won each quarter on the way to a 67-44 dismantling of a talented Transylvania University squad last Saturday. Leading the Beavers with her second double-double of the season was junior MACEY SHEERER (Bucyrus) who posted team highs of 14 points and 11 boards. She was a perfect 8-of-8 at the line and ripped down six offensive rebounds. Both teams sparkled at the line with Bluffton a perfect 18-of-18 while Transy knocked down 17-of-19 for 89.5 percent. The Pioneers were one of just two HCAC teams to hand Bluffton a loss in 2015-16, but the Beavers avenged that early February setback with a 71-60 win in the Heartland Conference tournament semi-finals three weeks later. The 65-61 win over Transy last December snapped a string of 10 straight losses to the Pioneers who have dominated the all-time series with a 28-4 mark.
A convincing 88-54 shellacking of Earlham on Wednesday night that included 13 Beavers in the scoring column set the stage for a monumental clash with Heartland Conference favorite Rose-Hulman this Saturday at 1 p.m. RHIT shared the 2015-16 regular season title with Bluffton and it took a coin flip to determine that the Sommer Center would be the site for the Heartland Conference tournament. The three battles with Rose saw the home squad emerge victorious each time with no team scoring more than 57 points in any game. The Engineers enter Saturday's contest with a 6-2 record (2-0 HCAC) and defense is again the base on which their success is built. Rose limited MSJ to 11 points through three quarters en route to a 59-23 road win in their HCAC opener last Saturday. Points will be at a premium as both squads hold their opponents to less than 60 points per game!
Bluffton has two of the top three scorers in the conference as well as three of the top nine. Sheerer leads the way with 15.8 PPG on a blistering 37-of-42 at the line (88.1 percent). Senior RACHEL BEINING(Ottoville) is nipping at her heels with 15.3 PPG thanks to 41-of-78 (52.6 percent) from the field. Junior KAYCEE ROWE (Harrod/Allen East) is 25-of-28 (89.3 percent) at the stripe for 13.8 PPG and she is stuffing the stat sheet with team highs of 18 assists and 16 steals. Sheerer and Beining are pulling down 8.0 (4th in HCAC) and 6.0 RPG (9th in HCAC), respectively. Rowe's assists and steals have her in the top five for the conference. Junior ABIGAIL O'DONNELL (Arcanum) has taken advantage of her starting role, scoring 6.8 PPG while pulling down 5.3 RPG. Freshman signal-caller TJ MILLS(Dayton/Chaminade-Julienne) has been key to Bluffton's unblemished start, harassing the opposition on the defensive end while dropping in 9.2 PPG to go along with her 14 assists and 12 steals.
The Beavers lead the Heartland Conference with 76.0 PPG and the defense is third at 57.0 PPG giving Bluffton the best average margin of victory (19.0 PPG) in the HCAC. With Rose-Hulman and their HCAC-best 50.5 PPG on defense up next, the Beavers will have a daunting challenge on their hands Saturday. The victor walks away with a perfect 3-0 conference mark heading into finals week with one more league contest prior to the normal slate of holiday contests. The HCAC resumes action on Wednesday, Jan. 4 when Bluffton is back in the Sommer Center for Mount St. Joseph at 7:30 p.m., a week before classes resume on January 11. Bluffton welcomes Wooster at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 20 before hosting the 4th annual Holiday Tournament on Dec. 29-30. National powers Hope, St. Thomas and Centre will make their way to Northwest Ohio for what will be a very entertaining two days of basketball. St. Thomas takes on Hope at 5 p.m. with Bluffton and Centre to follow at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 29.
-BEAVERS-