December 6, 2008
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - Rose-Hulman led by 12 points with less than 13 minutes to play before the Bluffton University women's basketball team went on a 23-9 jag to pick up its first Heartland Conference victory of the season on Saturday, December 6, 2008. With the come from behind win, Bluffton improved to 5-2 overall and 1-1 in the HCAC while Rose dropped to 2-3 and 1-1 in the conference.
Following an ELI BACA score that gave RHIT an early 7-2 lead, junior LINDSAY EBBESKOTTE (Delphos/Jefferson) got to the rack for an easy bucket courtesy of a nice feed from freshman BETH YODER (Marshallville/Smithville). GINNY BUCKINGHAM(Bluffton) hit from in close and VICKI AUER (Cincinnati/Roger Bacon) gave the Beavers their first lead of the contest when she dropped in a pair from the charity stripe with 13:32 to play in the half.
Although KIM MILLER (Delphos/St. John's) converted in the paint and Auer hit two more freebies, Rose opened a 20-12 lead with just over six minutes to play in the opening half. Auer and freshman BECKY RUBLE (Grover Hill/Wayne Trace) both added two foul shots before Miller ended the first period with a jumper which cut the Engineers' lead to five points (27-22) at the break.
The Beavers were slow out of the gate to start the second half, converting just one basket in the first five minutes of the stanza as Rose opened up a 34-24 lead. A pair of Miller tosses from the charity stripe and a Beth Yoder triple cut the gap in half, but the home team ran off the next seven points to take its largest lead of the game (41-29) with 12:50 to play.
With Rose looking to put the game on ice, Bluffton rallied for 11 straight points, all by Buckingham and freshman post EMILY SHELLABARGER (St. Mary's/Memorial), to make it 41-40 at the 8:44 mark of half two. ALISA DICKERSON quieted the uprising with a triple before three Shellabarger free throws again cut the deficit to a single point.
Bluffton took its first lead (48-47) of the second half when Ruble drained a jumper with 4:09 to play in the game. Shellabarger's free throw with 1:40 left gave the Beavers a five-point lead. Rose added three points late in the contest, but Bluffton held on 52-50 to secure its first conference win of the season after falling at Manchester in double overtime Wednesday night.
Emily Shellabarger continued her dominating play in the paint with a 14 point, 10 rebound performance for her second double-double of the season. She added two assists and a steal while pulling down six offensive boards. Buckingham also notched her sixth career double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds. Kim Miller just missed out on a double-double, finishing with 10 points and seven caroms. She dished out three assists while Vicki Auer picked up a team-high four steals.
Alisa Dickerson paced Rose with 12 points while LIZ RIDGEWAY added eight points and a team-high seven rebounds in the loss. DONNA MARSH swatted away three Bluffton shots and Eli Baca found her teammates for a game-high eight dimes.
The Beavers return to action on Saturday, Dec. 13, when Bluffton hosts HCAC rival Franklin College. The contest is slated to tip at 2 p.m. in Founders Hall.