OBERLIN, Ohio - The Bluffton University women's basketball team fell behind early but the Beavers turned it around for a 73-65 victory at Oberlin College on Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2022. Bluffton improved to 5-1, while the Yeowomen slipped to 5-4 in their last game until December 30.
The visitors trailed 11-2 nearly halfway through the first quarter when sophomore Lindsey Smith (Mt. Victory/Kenton) put Bluffton on her back. She scored the next five points as Bluffton pulled within four (11-7) three minutes later. A hoop and harm for Olivia Zender (Fostoria/Hopewell Louden) made the score 17-14 in favor of the home team after period one.
A 7-2 run for the Beavers that included a Maddie Fitzpatrick (Mount Gilead) triple and deuce sandwiched around a Morgan Smith (Arlington) bucket gave Bluffton a 21-19 lead midway through the second quarter. Kayla Prigge (Hamler/Patrick Henry) scored five straight, but Oberlin took a 29-28 advantage into the break.
The Yeowomen drilled triples around a Fenstermaker deep ball, opening up a 39-33 spread early in the second half. Bluffton flipped the script with a 14-4 jag that included trifectas from Prigge and Fitzpatrick. Fenstermaker and Lindsey Smith both hit from really close en route to a 51-49 lead after three quarters.
Zender dialed long distance to open the final stanza and Blufton led by five. The visitors were clinging to a four-point lead with less than four minutes to play when a Fenstermaker hook shot and a three-point play by Morgan Smith gave the Beavers some breathing room. Fitzpatrick iced it with seven freebies down the stretch on the way to a 73-65 result that got Bluffton back in the win column.
Bluffton hit 26-of-53 from the field for a red-hot 49.1 percent shooting night, including a blistering 6-for-11 (54.5 percent) from distance. The Beavers more than doubled up Oberlin on the boards (49-23), but Bluffton turned it over 13 more times (24-11).
Fitzpatrick led the way with 17 points on 9-of-12 shooting from the line. Prigge and Morgan Smith followed with 14 and 13 points, respectively. Lindsey Smith just missed double figures with a career-best nine markers on 4-of-6 from the field. Fenstermaker ripped down a career-high nine rebounds. Fitzpatrick dished out three assists and Sammy Shardo (Findlay/Liberty-Benton) picked up three steals.
Bluffton is back on the road Saturday for a 4 p.m. showdown with #3 Transylvania. The Beavers head to Lexington, Ky., where they will play game two of the men's and women's doubleheader with the Pioneers.
-BEAVERS-