By Tim Stried, SID
November 22, 2002

Bluffton College dropped their 2002-03 season opener Friday night as Adrian College dealt the Beavers a 66-50 loss in Founders Hall.

Bluffton sophomore Cara Young collected her first career double-double with 10 points and career-high 10 rebounds.

Bluffton jumped out to an 8-0 lead after five minutes had gone by in the game before Adrian came back to tie the score at 8-8 with 12 minutes left before halftime. The Beavers regained the lead briefly before Adrian took a 30-23 lead at the intermission.

For the game, Bluffton out-rebounded Adrian 36 to 34 and had one more steal (11 to 10).

Adrian's 54.2% shooting clip in the second half kept Bluffton from cutting into the their lead past the mid-way point in the second half. A lay-up from Bluffton's Lyndsey Robinson and a free throw from Lindsay Bacon cut the deficit to eight points with 12:03 left in the game, but an 11-2 Adrian run that point put the Bulldogs up by 18 points with seven minutes to go.

BC junior Karen Harris scored 13 points to lead the Beavers in scoring and she also collected a game-high five steals. Both numbers were one away from her career-highs and she committed just one turnover in 30 minutes on the court.

Robinson added 10 points for Bluffton as the Beavers also increased their shooting percentage in the second half by over 10 percentage points (28.6% to 39.3%).

Adrian was without returning all-conference player Ra'Sheida Edwards who missed the game with a knee injury. The Bulldogs were led by Rachael Petre who came off the bench to score a game-high 15 points.

Bluffton will return to action Saturday at 1:00 at home against Huntington.

-BEAVERS-