Brevard, N.C. – The Brevard College women’s basketball team outscored the Wingate Lady Bulldogs 38-29 in the second half of their game on Saturday afternoon, but ultimately came up just short, falling to Wingate, 70-66.

 

The Tornados got off to a slow start in the first half, as they found themselves down 11-0 less than three minutes into the game.

 

Wingate pushed their lead to 12 points at 15-3 at the 16:40 mark of the opening half, when the Tornados began to make a run of their own, rolling off 11 unanswered points of their own to cut the Lady Bulldogs lead to one at 15-14 with 11:06 to play.

 

After the two teams traded three-point baskets, the Tornados did not get any closer for the remainder of the first half, as Wingate had an answer for every BC offensive run and closed out the half on a 10-3 run to take a 41-28 halftime lead.

 

Although the Tornados shot 40 percent from the floor in the first half, they had 17 turnovers which lead to 20 Wingate University points.

 

In the second half, the Lady Bulldogs continued to hold on to a double-digit lead over the Tornados, pushing the lead up to 17 points with 6:04 remaining in the game.

 

Yet Brevard did not go away, as two made free throws by sophomore guard Lindsay Thrift at the 5:18 mark started a 14-3 Tornados run that cut the Wingate lead down to five, 65-60, with 1:02 to play in regulation.

 

After a lay-up by Wingate’s Erica Crumlin pushed the lead back to 67-60, the Tornados came down and answered with a three-pointer from freshman forward Amanda Whitaker, cutting the lead to four at 67-63 with 25 seconds left on the clock.

 

The Tornados, which only had three team fouls, had to foul the Lady Bulldogs on four separate occasions to force Wingate to go to the foul line.

 

Wingate’s Kate Edwards knocked down two free throws with 11 seconds left to push the Lady Bulldogs lead back to six at 69-63.

 

On the ensuing offensive possession the Tornados senior guard Courtney Brandon used a screen from fellow senior Holly Krogman to get open and hit a three-point basket to put the score at 69-66 with six seconds left on the clock.

 

However, time would run out on the Tornados as Wingate’s Anna Atkinson hit one of two free throws with 3.9 seconds to go to seal the 70-66 road win for Wingate.

The Tornados shot 51.9 percent from the floor in the second half, including going 5-of-11 from behind the three point line, while holding the Lady Bulldogs to 27 percent shooting from the field.

 

BC was led by freshman Amanda Whitaker, who had a game-high 17 points on the day. Senior Holly Krogman had 15 points, while fellow co-captain Courtney Brandon had 12 points, all coming off three-point baskets. Sophomore Samantha Winn pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds to go along with her five points.

 

The Lady Bulldogs were led by pre-season SAC all-conference selection Anna Atkinson with 16 points and 10 assists. Sharp-shooter Kate Edwards had 14 points, while forward Erica Crumlin added 10 points.

 

The Tornados (8-15) will be in action again on Wednesday, February 20, when they will travel to Jefferson City, T.N. to face off with the Lady Eagles of Carson-Newman College at 6 p.m.

 

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