COLUMBIA, S.C. (November 29, 2021) – The Spring Hill College (SHC) women's basketball team opened the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) portion of their 2021-22 schedule with a 68-53 loss to the Benedict College (BC) Tigers at HRC Arena on Monday evening.
The Badgers took an early 6-2 lead over the Tigers (4-3, 2-0 SIAC East), but Benedict rallied to claw out a 9-8 advantage. Freshman guard
Kayla Keller converted a hoop-and-the-harm opportunity to stake SHC to an 11-9 edge only to have the Tigers answer with a 3-pointer from Ayanna Armstead at 2:01 left in the 1
st quarter. A short jumper by BC with 18 seconds on the clock sent the teams into the 2
nd quarter with the Tigers up 14-11.
At 5:22 before the half, freshman guard
Emyria Harris sank a 3-point bucket to give SHC a 22-19 lead and a layup from sophomore forward
Tyashia Bostick made it a 24-20 SHC bulge just a minute later. A trey from Jasmine Gholson at 1:38 capped an 8-1 Benedict run over the final four minutes sending Benedict into halftime with a 28-25 lead.
The teams picked up the pace in the 3
rd quarter with Benedict maintaining a 38-34 edge at the 4:20 media timeout as the Tigers looked to work the inside and SHC preferred to shoot from outside the paint. A quarter-ending buzzer-beater by Harris of SHC kept the Badgers close, trailing 44-39 headed to the final 10 minutes of play.
Freshman center
Ariel Thompson of the Badgers opened the 4
th period with a layup to cut the deficit to 44-41, but four consecutive Ay'Anna Bey free throws stretched the BC edge back out to 48-41 at 8:41. An 8-4 run by the Tigers from 8:00 to 5:25 put SHC into a 56-45 hole from which they could not dig out.
Bostick paced the Badgers with 22 points as SHC shot 28.3% (17-60) from the field including 33.3% (6-18) from 3-point range. Spring Hill lost 22 turnovers to 18 steals by the Tiger defense.
Benedict's Bey scored 19 points as the Tigers shot 36.5% (23-63) from the floor and 17.4% (4-23) from beyond the arc. Benedict won the rebounding battle 56-37 and lost 20 turnovers to seven steals by the Badgers.
The Badgers (1-6, 0-1 SIAC West) return home to face non-conference rival the University of Mobile Lady Rams (6-1) at 2 p.m. Saturday in the Arthur R. Outlaw Recreation Center. Earlier this season, the Rams took a 75-65 victory over the Badgers on November 16, 2021 at H. Austill Pharr Gymnasium.
