Box Score Bridgewater pulled off its second upset of the ODAC
Women's Basketball Tournament as the Eagles defeated the No.
2 seed, Randolph-Macon, 70-64, Saturday afternoon in semifinal
action at the Salem Civic Center.
With the victory, the Eagles advance to the ODAC Championship game
where they will meet top-seeded Virginia Wesleyan on Sunday
afternoon at 1..
The Yellow Jackets jumped out to a 20-6 lead in the first eight
minutes of play, but the Eagles weathered the early onslaught and
by half, Bridgewater had trimmed the lead to six points, 31-25.
Randolph-Macon scored the first five points of the second half to
take an 11-point lead, but once again the Eagles hung tough and
used a quick 6-0 spurt to cut the lead to five, 36-31.
The Eagles finally caught the Yellow Jackets when Kristin Bosserman
knocked down a 3-pointer to tie the score 47-47 with 12:03 left in
the game.
With 9:57 left in the game, the Eagles took their first lead of the
second-half on a Jordan Burkholder layup. The Eagles built the lead
to seven, 65-58, with 4:32 left on Jessica Timberlake's
3-pointer, but the Yellow Jackets answered, outscoring the Eagles,
7-1, to pull within one point, 65-64, with 2:09 to play.
The Yellow Jackets had possession with a chance to take the lead,
but Amanda Hiltunen missed a jumper and the Eagles controlled the
rebound with 1:20 to play.
Burkholder then missed a 3-pointer with the shot clock winding
down, but Nikki Sydnor grabbed the offensive rebound to keep
possession for the Eagles. Burkholder then scored on a layup,
giving BC a three-point lead with 41 seconds left.
The Yellow Jackets misfired again and Bosserman scored on a layup
to make it a five-point lead, 69-64 with 24 seconds left. Bosserman
added 1-of-2 from the foul line with 14 seconds to go for the final
point in the upset victory.
Jennifer Saunders scored 17 points to pace four Eagles in double
figures. Bosserman scored 14 points, followed by Timberlake with 12
and Burkholder with 11. Sydnor led the Eagles with eight rebounds
as BC battled the Yellow Jackets to a virtual standoff on the
boards.
Molly Ariail paced the Yellow Jackets with 20 points and 11
rebounds. Hiltunen scored 16 points and Lindsay Riesbeck added 14
points, 10 boards and seven blocked shots.
The Eagles are now 14-13 overall while the Yellow Jackets drop to
22-5.