BLUFFTON, Ohio - The Bluffton women stifled St. Mary's College 66-49 on day two of the McDonald's Holiday Classic. Their fourth straight victory has the Beavers 6-4 overall headed back into Heartland Conference action on Sunday.
A Sydney Cavanaugh (Mansfield/St. Peter) three ball at the 1:39 mark of the first quarter gave Bluffton a 19-6 advantage as the Beavers had visions of the 93 points they put up on Wednesday against Geneva. Two Cavanaugh freebies made it 21-8 heading to period two.
Consecutive triples from junior Sammy Shardo (Findlay/Liberty-Benton) powered a 12-2 run that made it 33-12 less than five minutes into the second stanza. Brianna Gillig (New Riegel) and Hannah Plesac (Galion/Colonel Crawford) rounded out the scoring in the first half for Bluffton before St. Mary's used a 7-0 spurt over the final 1:34 to pull within 12 (39-27) at the break.
Kayla Prigge (Hamler/Patrick Henry) sandwiched a pair of treys around an Angel Schneider (Columbus Grove) pullup before Shardo's three-point dagger made it 52-29 with 6:53 to play in the third. Junior Peyton Henry (Leipsic) got to the rack with 49 seconds on the clock, giving Bluffton a comfortable 59-34 spread heading to the final period.
Coach Shutler emptied his bench in the fourth with the end result no longer in question. Freshman Lydia Anderson (Waynesville) bucketed the final points for Bluffton on a nice feed from Olivia Zender (Fostoria/Hopewell Louden) as the Beavers wrapped up their home classic with a 66-49 victory.
Bluffton hit 24-of-65 from the field for 36.9 percent, while holding St. Mary's to an ice-cold 16-of-61 (26.2 percent) night. The Belles were an impressive 14-of-17 (82.4 percent) at the stripe, but they knocked down just 3-of-15 triples (20 percent). Bluffton hammered away on the glass, finishing with a 58-33 rebounding advantage. The two teams combined for 54 turnovers with Bluffton giving it away a whopping 26 times.
Gillig led the home team with her 19th career double-double. She finished with a game-high 17 points and a game-high 11 rebounds. Shardo and Prigge both netted 15 points on Thursday night. Schneider dished out a career-best four assists and Zender equaled her career high with three steals. Gillig was a perfect 7-of-7 from the field, while Prigge and Shardo both drained three triples.
The noon game on Thursday featured an Ohio Northern squad that glided through Geneva with ease en route to a 101-30 victory over the Golden Tornadoes.
Bluffton is back in action on Sunday, Jan. 2, when the Beavers travel to Anderson University for a 2 p.m. matchup with the Ravens.
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