By Tim Stried
December 7, 2002

Senior Melissa James tied her career scoring high for the second game in a row with 20 points, but Bluffton was defeated 63-47 at Hanover College Saturday afternoon.

For the first 30 minutes of the game Bluffton played even with the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference leaders and trailed by just two points at 41-39 with 9:36 to play, but the Beavers were out-scored 22-8 from that point on.

A 3-pointer from James and a layup from junior Karen Harris gave Bluffton a 14-12 lead with 10:47 left in the first half and a 3-pointer from senior Kristen Siller, the first of her career, tied the score at 23-23 with 46 seconds left before halftime.

Hanover (4-1, 1-0 HCAC) took a 25-23 lead at the intermission, but a 5-0 run by the Beavers early in the second half gave BC a 30-29 lead with 15:26 to play. Bluffton (0-6, 0-2 HCAC) led again 32-31 and then 34-33 with 13:10 remaining to mark their last lead of the game.

James was the only Beaver in double-figures, while Siller and senior Lyndsey Robinson chipped in seven points each.

Bluffton committed a season-low 13 personal fouls in the game but was held to a season-low 47 points and collected a season-low six steals.

Bluffton will travel to Mount St. Joseph on Saturday at 2 p.m.