Box Score BLUEFIELD – Women's basketball celebrated Senior Night, Thursday, recognizing the contributions of Danae Cox, Kierra Bell-Linnear and Courtney Kendrick. On the court the Rams hosted NAIA No. 22 Milligan and fell to the Buffaloes 81-57.
Milligan started with a 2-0 lead off two technical foul shots to start the game as a result of the shot clock in the gymnasium not functioning. The Rams took the opening tip and quickly knotted the game at two. The two teams battled throughout the period with neither gaining a major advantage with ties at each point. Milligan took its biggest lead with half a minute left at five points 17-12 and that is where it stood at the end of the first quarter.
The Rams continued to hang close in the second quarter, playing tough defense against the No. 22 Buffaloes and trailed by only four points midway through the period. BC closed to within two on a pair of occasions and had a chance to tie with just under two minutes left in the half. Milligan, however, pulled out to their biggest lead of the game in the last minute of the half, eight points. The Buffaloes carried a five point lead into the locker room, 30-25.
Within the first minute of the third quarter a Kendrick bucket pulled BC to within a point of Milligan. Milligan began to pull away late in the quarter and a three with 90 seconds left gave the Buffaloes their first double-digit lead of the game. Milligan took a 51-39 lead into the fourth quarter.
Milligan extended its lead in the fourth period, going up by 20 midway through the final 10 minutes of play.
Cox scored 20 in her final regular-season game at the Dome, while Bell-Linnear in her finale at the Dome finished with 12 points and nine rebounds. Kendrick in her last game on campus tallied eight points and five rebounds.
After the game and prior to the men's game senior members of the team, Cox, Kendrick, and Bell-Linnear were honored along with senior members of the cheer squad and seniors on the men's basketball team.