Box Score

WILLAIMSBURG, Ky. – The Bluefield College women's basketball team trimmed a 21-point deficit all the way down to five points, Thursday evening at the O. Wayne Robbins Center, but ran out of time to complete the comeback against #22 University of Cumberlands, falling by a score of 81-71 in Mid-South Conference action. BC was forced to foul with less than a minute to play, leading to the Patriots' 10-point spread.
 
BC (7-7, 2-4 MSC) was led by 16 points from Janee Simmons who also pulled down a game high 10 rebounds for her third-straight double-double. Asia Wheeler tossed in 15 and Teqa McNeal chipped in 12 in the loss.
 
The Patriots (9-6, 4-2 MSC) put four in double-digits, led by Jill Herman's 24 and 20 more from Julie Haye. Jackie Alexander and Erica Lane added 15 and 10, respectively.
 
For just the third time this year, BC was outrebounded, though by just a 28-26 margin.
 
UC took a 31-26 lead into the break, but a hot start in the second half behind four three pointers pushed the lead up to 60-39 with 11:31 left on the clock.
 
Free throws from McNeal and Wheeler slowed the Patriots' momentum and sparked a 17-5 rally from the Lady Rams and trimmed the deficit to just nine points, 65-56.
 
Wheeler put up seven points to lead the charge, while Alexis Grant added four on a pair of jumpers. Simmons tallied a put-back and both Jade McDaniel and Monique Robson knocked down a pair of free throws in BC's run over the 5:10 of play.
 
Bluefield trimmed it all the way down to five points, 76-71, on a McNeal jumper with 36 ticks left, but couldn't pull any closer as they were forced to foul.
 
After a combined 13 free throws in the first half of play, the teams combined for 43 attempts from the charity stripe in the second half. UC converted 20-of-24 (83.3%) attempts over the final 20 minutes, while BC was 14-for-19 (73.7%).
 
UC finished the game shooting 24-for-49 (49%) from the field, compared to BC's 24-for-56 (42.9%) on the night. Both teams knocked down six shots from beyond-the-arc on the night, BC on 16 attempts and UC on 14 tries.
 
Cumberlands gathered a quick 6-1 lead to open the night, but BC pulled even at 11 as Whitney Smith capped a 10-5 run with a three-pointer. McNeal knocked down a three for BC's first field goal of the evening, while Wheeler added a bucket in the spurt as well.
 
The Patriots then struck for six straight points before BC clamored back with seven-straight of its own and reclaimed the lead, 18-17. Simmons hit back-to-back hoops in the paint before Wheeler put the Lady Rams ahead with a trey at the 10:27 mark.
 
Over the next seven minutes, the teams were tied on four occasions. But, five-straight points from UC to close the half earned the hosts a 31-26 lead at the break.
 
Bluefield concludes its MSC road weekend on Saturday, squaring off with #7 Georgetown at 2 p.m.