Box Score

BLUEFIELD, Va. – The Bluefield College women's basketball team snapped its three-game skid on Thursday evening thanks to a 73-66 win over Mid-South Conference opponent Shawnee State at the Dome Gymnasium. Bluefield led for much of the contest and was able to withstand a couple of charges from the visiting Bears to claim the victory.
 
Bluefield (8-8, 3-5 MSC) was led by 21 points from senior guard Teqa McNeal. Asia Wheeler tacked on 16 points and pulled down 11 rebounds for the double-double. Freshman Whitney Smith tossed in a career high 15 points, including a 3-for-4 performance from beyond-the-arc. McNeal also dished out five assists.
 
Diane Abbady's big night of 19 points and 19 rebounds led the Bears. Alannah Sheets (16), Ali Zieverink (12) and Priscilla Santos (11) also tallied double-digit scoring totals in defeat. Abby Feuchter handed out six assists on the night.
 
Shawnee State grabbed a 15-11 lead eight minutes into the game, but that would prove to be the Bears' largest lead of the night. Bluefield quickly struck back, as Wheeler knocked down a three and tallied a layin shortly after. The bucket gave BC the 16-15 lead, which they would not relinquish the remainder of the night.
 
An Alexis Grant jumper kept the rally going, which turned into a 16-3 spurt for the Lady Rams over a stretch of 5:30. A pair of Smith free throws made the advantage nine with 6:31 left in the first half.
 
A Destiny Tolliver bucket at the 3:42 mark earned BC its first double-digit lead of the night, while the advantage grew to 15, 41-26, following a Monique Robson layup. But, the Bears tallied the final four points of the half, making it 41-30 at the break.
 
The Bears reeled off a 13-4 run to start the second half and closed the gap to just two points, 45-43 with just over 15 minutes to play.
 
However, Bluefield fended off the Bears with a 9-0 answer in which five different Lady Rams tallied a point. Tolliver hit a free throw to slow SSU's run, followed by a Maryah Mazyck jumper and a Wheeler layup. Smith hit two more at the free throw line while McNeal capped the stretch with a layin of her own.
 
With time winding down, SSU tallied five straight points to close the gap to six points, 63-57, but Smith hit a three from the top of the key and Wheeler hit a pair of free throws to send the advantage to double-digits once again with just 2:34 to play.
 
An Abbady layup with just 31 seconds brought the Bears within four, but McNeal hit three at the line down the stretch for the 73-66 final.
 
Bluefield was outrebounded 52-38, including 23 offensive rebounds from the Bears.
 
BC turned 18 SSU turnovers into 19 points, while the Bears could only manage 12 points on 16 BC giveaways.
 
SSU put together a strong inside game, tallying 46 of its 66 in the paint. However, the Bears were just 24-for-68 (35.3%) from the field on the evening, while BC knocked down 24-of-57 (42.1%) attempts, including 6-of-12 from three-point range.
 
Bluefield welcomes the University of Rio Grande into the Dome Gymnasium at 2 p.m., Saturday. The RedStorm fell to Pikeville, 100-97 on Thursday evening.