Purdue Fort Wayne
Belmont
IPFW Falls After a Late Surge Against Belmont
1/15/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 15, 2007
Nashville, TN - The Mastodons out-scored the Bruins of Belmont University in the second half, after coming back from a nine point deficit at the end of the first half. The Bruins held on for the win, 79-74 in the Curb Event Center on Monday night.
"I felt like we battled for 40 minutes against a good basketball team," said Chris Paul. "It wasn't so much that we played poor at the start as that Belmont came out shooting, hitting 10 three pointers."
The first half belonged to Belmont having never giving up the lead and hitting a 23 point difference late in the first.
At the 15:39 mark the Bruins were off to an eleven point lead, 13-2. At 9:12 Belmont had a 20 point lead and just three minutes later had their largest lead of the half, 23, 35-12.
A 14-2 run by IPFW would cut the Bruins lead to ten with 2:17 left in the half. With 36 seconds left Samantha Edwards hit a jumper to cut the lead to six before Belmont would answer back to end the half ahead by nine, 43-34.
"When we were down by 23 points with six minutes left we called a timeout and challenged them, either drop their heads and get blown out or sit down and get back to work. They laid it on the line and we were right there and positioned ourselves to win."
Johnna Lewis-Carlisle would start the second half off with a good lay-up. A 7-2 run by the Bruins would take their lead to 12 with 16:23 left to go in the game.
IPFW would tie the game up at 54 after Ashley Johnson hit a jumper at the 13:02 mark. The Mastodons would take their first lead of the game after Lewis-Carlisle hit two free throws just a little over a minute later, 56-54.
Belmont would tie the game up again at 56 and then run to a five point lead with 8:10 left. The 'Dons would go on a six point run to take the lead with just over six minutes left.
The Bruins would take a five point lead with 2:45 to go, 72-67. With 2 seconds left a good free throw would put Belmont up by eight. Johnson would hit a buzzer beater to cut the lead to five with a final of 79-74.
"We came out with the same intensity and played a more balanced game. We challenged and took the lead twice. We were very aggressive but couldn't get the next stop after we took the lead to maintain control of the game. Belmont came and took the lead back each time and it was back and forth until the last minute. Johnna [Lewis-Carlisle] had the shot to tie the game up but it missed and a foul later we lost by five.
"We put ourselves in a positive position and shot over 40% in a game for the first time this year with only 12 turnovers. We just couldn't stop Alysha Clark - she's the best forward we've played all year and we couldn't control her."
Johnson led the Mastodons with 24 points, four boards, five assists and two steals. She was 10 of 19 from the field and 3 of 5 at the line.
Lewis-Carlisle also hit above 20 points with 21. She was 3 of 4 from beyond the arc. She added five boards and three assists for the night.
Edwards rounded out the 'Dons in double figures with 17 points. She added two steals and was 7 of 10 from the field and perfect at the line, 2-2.
Hilary O'Connell and Juliane Höhne each added five boards. O'Connell added two steals and Höhne had three blocks and assists.
The Bruins had three ladies in double figures. Alysha Clark had a double-double with 24 points and 19 boards. Shaunda Strayhorn added 16 points and Destri Bockey had 11.
The Mastodons (7-8) will host Butler University on Saturday January 20th at 1 PM in the Gates Center.
~Dons~
