Posted: Feb 10, 2010
February 10, 2010
By: Brandy Bidlack, sports information assistant
NORTH MANCHESTER, Ind. - The Bluffton University women's basketball team fell to conference rival Manchester College on Wednesday, February 10, 2010, despite a 62-42 victory over the Spartans a month ago at Bluffton. With the loss, the Beavers fell to 4-10 in the HCAC and 7-15 overall. The Spartans improved to 5-8 in the conference and 5-17 for the season.
Freshman JENNA REYNOLDS (Logan) produced the first four Bluffton points with a layin, followed by a jumper which put the Beavers up 4-2. After a pair of Manchester freebies, ALICIA AMIS (Woodstock/Mechanicsburg) went 2-for-2 at the charity stripe. At the 11:54 mark, sophomore RACHEL DAMAN (Defiance/Tinora) hit a deuce to put the Beavers up, 8-4.
However, the Spartans responded with a 17-5 jag during the next eight minutes of action. At the 3:47 mark, the tide began to turn in the Beavers' favor when a layup from senior post GINNY BUCKINGHAM (Bluffton) cut the deficit to just six points. With 17 seconds remaining in the half, BETH YODER (Marshallville/Smithville) drained a triple to tie the game at 23 going into halftime.
A BRITTANY STEGMAIER (Garfield/Trinity) trifecta sparked the Bluffton offense early in the second half. At the 16:29 mark, an ASHLEY POE bucket put the Spartans in the lead before Amis connected with BECKY RUBLE (Grover Hill/Wayne Trace) behind the arc to tie the contest at 31. Both teams traded a pair of free throws to tie the game once again (33-33) with 14 minutes remaining on the clock.
The Manchester offense went on a 17-9 spurt which was finally broken up when junior KIM MILLER (Delphos/St. John's) drove to the hoop, slicing the Spartan lead to just six points. With less than four minutes to play, Ruble countered a Manchester layup with her third trifecta of the night to tie the game at 54.
A Reynolds layup with 40 seconds left tied the game at 56, but a layin and pair of freebies from Poe gave Manchester its fifth win of the season as the Spartans defeated the Beavers 60-57.
Kim Miller paced the Beavers with 12 points, seven assists and four steals. Ruble added 11 points, including three triples. Reynolds and Stegmaier contributed eight points each, while Reynolds, Miller, Stegmaier and VICKI AUER (Cincinnati/Roger Bacon) pulled down four rebounds each. Bluffton went 18-of-47 (38.3 percent) from the field, including 6-of-18 (33.3 percent) from the arc, and 15-for-19 (78.9 percent) from the charity stripe.
Poe led the Spartan offense with 16 points, while teammate KAILEY HONN snatched six boards and swatted away two Bluffton shots. BRITTANI BUSH and MELISSA ELTZROTH finished with nine points each. Manchester also made 18-of-47 (38.3 percent) from the field, 4-of-16 (25.0 percent) from deep and 20-of-28 (71.4 percent) at the free throw line.
The Spartans pulled down six more boards (35-29) but committed two more turnovers (17-15) than the visitors. The Beavers were whistled for seven more infractions than the home team (22-15).
The next contest for the Bluffton University women's basketball team is on Saturday, February 13, when they host conference rival Rose-Hulman. The battle between the Beavers and Engineers is slated for 1 p.m. in Founders Hall.
-BEAVERS-