Women's Basketball Comeback Falls Short Against Bryan

ATHENS, Tenn.- The women's basketball team hosted rival Bryan College in an Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) game on Saturday. The team battled back from being 18 down but was not able to complete the comeback, falling 74-62. 

After Bryan scored the first goal, the Lady Bulldogs scored the next 11 points. Talley Lawson got the scoring started and was followed by a Leslie Hames three-pointer while back-to-back-to-back layups by Lawson, Julia Howard, and Camryn Brown gave the team their 11-2 lead. The opponents scored four straight points over the next few minutes to cut the led to four. Jordan White and Lawson each made layups to help the team keep the lead, a 15-13 score the second quarter began with.

The second quarter saw Bryan take over the lead by scoring six consecutive points. Layups by Lawson and White helped keep the team within three points of the lead, making the score 22-19 with 5:24 remaining in the first half. Unfortunately, the team only score three more points in the quarter, a free throw and layup by Sloan Carpenter. TWU trailed 39-22 at halftime.

Out of halftime, Hames and Brown hit back-to-back three-pointers to cut the Bryan lead to 11 points. The opponents did not let the Lady Bulldogs pull closer in this run though, holding a lead of 50-34 with 5:14 remaining in the third quarter. By the end of the third quarter, Tennessee Wesleyan had cut the deficit to five points. White started the run with a jump shot while Brown hit two three-point baskets in the run. The remaining three points from the run came from three White free throws, moving the score to 50-45. 

Howard made it 13 consecutive points with a layup to begin the fourth quarter. Bryan stopped the momentum run by the Lady Bulldogs though, pulling ahead 63-53 with 4:40 remaining in the game. White and Brown scored the remaining points in the game for TWU. 

Brown and White reset their career-highs in points with 18 and 13, respectively. White also had a career-high seven rebounds. 

The Lady Bulldogs (3-3, 2-2 AAC) will play Johnson University in a conference game on Tuesday at home at 5:30 p.m.