On Wednesday, Feb. 14, the Bluffton University Women’s Basketball team (18-6, 13-4 HCAC) played host to the Spartans from Manchester (Ind.) University (7-17, 6-11) in the Sommer Center and won 76-57, clinching the third seed in the HCAC women’s basketball tournament.
The last time these two team played was on Jan. 17 of this year, and Bluffton left Indiana with a three-point, 62-59 victory.
“I think we played (much) better defense this time around,” said sophomore guard Breanna Graham (Springboro). “We (also) clicked more as a team than we did (at their place).”
Leading the way for the Beavers was Graham, who was red hot from behind the 3-point arc, shooting a career-high five 3-pointers, tallying 15 total points, two points shy of tying her career-high in points at 17, which she accomplished earlier in the season.
If Graham would have hit a sixth 3-pointer, she would have tied Becky Reineke (95-97), Beth Klocke (96-97), Beth Yoder (2010-11), and Taylor Whitaker (2015-16) with the most 3-pointers made in a single game by a Bluffton University women’s basketball player.
Bluffton jumped out on the Spartans early and often, taking a 25-8 lead at the end of quarter number one.
The Beavers continued to chomp at the Spartans and move the ball up and down the court with ease, taking a 40-15 halftime lead.
“We had good ball movement,” said Graham on what was clicking for the Beavers offensively. “When we (can) move the ball well, we get open shots and good looks.”
In the first half, Bluffton shot 38.9 percent from the field, hitting 14 out of their 36 total shots. They were also shooting 36.4 percent from the 3-point line, hitting four out of the eleven 3-pointers taken. Graham had two of those 3-point buckets.
Coming out of the break, the Beavers kept their pedal to the metal. They tallied 20 points in the third quarter and 16 in the fourth.
Defense helped Bluffton stay in control of the game while the Spartans did not help themselves out any as they took a lot of jump shots that were nowhere close to going in.
The Beavers held the Spartans in the first half to a dreadful 5-24 shooting (20.8 percent) from the field and 0-8 from behind the 3-point line. In the second half, it was the same story. Bluffton held Manchester to 36.1 percent (13-36) from the field and 18.2 percent (2-11) from 3-point land.
Not only did Graham have double-digit points, but sophomore guard TJ Mills totaled 12 points on 4-5 shooting and dished out four assists.
Up next for this Bluffton women’s basketball team is a home game against the Franklin (Ind.) College Grizzlies (7-16, 6-11 HCAC) on Saturday, Feb. 17. It is also senior day for Abigail O’Donnell, 1,000-point club member Kaycee Rowe and the all-time leading scorer in Bluffton University women’s basketball Macey Sheerer.
Come out and support both the men’s and women’s team and seniors. If you can’t, you can catch the game live on 96.1 The Wit with live coverage starting at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m.
