BLUEFIELD, Va. – A last-second shot from Bryan College's Megan Billingsby was off the mark, keeping the Appalachian Athletic Conference's fourth-leading scorer pointless on the afternoon and earning the Bluefield College women's basketball team a 47-46 conference win at the Dome Gymnasium, Saturday afternoon.
 
Bluefield, who ranks 11th in NAIA DII in scoring defense per game (57.0), moves to 9-12 overall with the victory and 6-7 in AAC games. Meanwhile, Bryan, who ranks 8^th in NAIA DII in scoring defense per game (56.3), has its record drop to 14-5 this season and 8-3 in AAC play.
 
Maryah Mazyck led Bluefield in scoring with a game-high 18 points. Destiny Tolliver logged her 8^th double-double of the season, tossing in 10 points and grabbing a game-high 15 rebounds.
 
Kristin Lane and Keila Formont paced the Lions with 15 and 14 points respectively. Billingsby, who averages 16 a night, was 0-for-8 from the floor thanks to suffocating Bluefield interior defense. Both teams only had five players score on the evening.
 
Outside of a two-all tie, Bluefield led for the entire first half. A Mazyck layup at the 4:02 mark earned the hosts their largest lead of the opening 20 minutes at 18-11. However, Bryan responded with five-straight points and a Formont three made its deficit one at intermission, 20-19.
 
Bryan claimed its first lead of the afternoon as Lane opened the second period with a jumper.
 
After a tie at 23-all, Bluefield reeled off a 13-4 rally as it dialed up from beyond-the-arc. Mazyck knocked down one triple while Jade McDaniel netted two more in the three-and-a-half minute stretch. Tolliver and Shelby Key each added hoops in the lane, boosting BC's advantage to eight, 33-25.
 
The visitors were resilient though and pieced together a 9-0 stretch over a span of 3:15, regaining a 36-35 advantage with 10:15 remaining. Bluefield committed three turnovers in the stretch as Bryan picked up its backcourt pressure.
 
A Whitney Smith triple put Bluefield ahead once again, and set up a final 5:30 which featured three ties and four lead changes.
 
Lane squared the contest at 40-all before a Victoria Griffin jumper put Bryan in front with 4:41 to play.
 
Mazyck then cashed in on four-straight free throws to place Bluefield in front once again, 44-42. Bryan answered though, as Formont nailed a three and pushed the visitors ahead again, 45-44.
 
Mazyck tacked on two more free throws for the 46-45 lead with 1:39 remaining. Smith then hauled in a Billingsby miss inside and was fouled, where she knocked down one of two attempts and earned Bluefield a 47-45 lead with 58 ticks left.
 
Lane then converted a free throw on the other end, but missed her second. Tolliver had a chance to make it a three-point game, but both free throws were off-target.
 
A missed shot from Formont set up a hectic late-game scramble as Mazyck pulled down the rebound and lost possession. Lane fired up a contested three, which fell short and went out of bounds, but was declared deflected by officials giving the visitors one last hope with 1.7 seconds left. Billingsby caught the ball on the elbow and took the shot falling away, but it went off the right side of the rim to preserve the Bluefield victory.
 
Bluefield shot 38% to 30% for the visitors. Neither team excelled from long range, with BC going 5-for-19 (26.3%) and Bryan hitting just 4-for-22 (18.2%).
 
Montreat visits Bluefield on Wednesday, closing the Rams' stretch of three-straight home AAC games. Tipoff is set for 5:30 p.m.