Women's Basketball News
Birmingham Southern completes sweep of Centre women
For the second time this season the Centre College women's basketball team has fallen to Birmingham Southern College, losing 61-51 in a Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) game Friday, Feb. 8 in Alumni Gymnasium in Danville, Ky.
With the defeat, the Colonels have now dropped three straight to fall to 6-12 overall, while Birmingham Southern improves to 17-4 on the season. The Panthers also defeated Centre 86-63 back on January 11 in Birmingham, Ala. The game does not count toward the SCAC standings due to Birmingham Southern being
in the first year of its four-year provisional transition from Division I to Division III.
The Colonels fell behind early and found themselves playing catch up all game. Trailing 16-7 at the 13:43 mark, Centre scored seven of the next nine points to cut the lead to four, but the Panthers answered with a 15-4 run to push the lead to 15 points (33-18) with just over four minutes to play in the opening period. The Colonels scored six of the final 11 points of the half but still trailed by 14 points (38-24) at the break.
The two teams struggled to hold on to the ball in the second half combining to turn the ball over 23 times. Birmingham Southern out-scored Centre 10-5 over the first eight minutes of the second half and would eventually push the lead to 20 points (54-34) with 9:02 to play.
The Colonels made one last run scoring 14 of the next 16 points to trim the lead to eight points (56-48), but would get no closer as the Panthers would hold on for the 10-point victory.
Birmingham Southern shot 49.0% (25-51) for the game, while Centre finished at 35.3% (18-51) from the field, including seven of 22 (31.8%) from beyond the three-point arc.
Elyse Clay led all players with 20 points and eight rebounds. Clay made eight of her 16 shot attempts, including four of five from the charity stripe. Mallory Morring also finished in double figures with 13 points, five rebounds and four assists in the win.
Sophomore guard Chelsea Goodman (Harrodsburg, Ky.) paced Centre with 17 points, six rebounds and three steals. Sophomore forward Jenny Jones (Stanford, Ky.) added nine points and four rebounds in the loss.
Centre will return to action Sunday, Feb. 10 to host Rhodes College. The SCAC contest will be played as part of a men's/women's doubleheader and is slated to begin at 1 p.m. in Danville, Ky. |
