The Blackburn College Women’s Basketball Team opened up their season with a nonconference matchup against Millikin University on Wednesday, November 19, 2014 in Decatur, Ill. Tip off was at 7:00 pm, as the Beavers looked to start their season off with a win. As the game progress Blackburn struggled to hang with Millikin as they were outscored 82-56 to finish the game. “Millikin is a tough team and we came out and competed. Overall I’m pleased with performance but we still aren’t where we need to be. The future looks bright for us moving on into the season,” said Blackburn Women’s Basketball Head Coach Jen Windmiller.

The game started off quickly as it was a back-and-forth game for the first couple minutes and seemed to be shaping up to be a nail-biter. The Big Blue of Millikin University crushed any chances of that as they mounted a huge run behind the 5-6 shooting and eleven points from Kelsey Going.  Blackburn was outscored in the first half 40-29.

The second half proved to be more of the same as Blackburn was outscored 42-27 in the second half. Offensive rebounds proved to be the difference in the second half as Millikin brought down a total of eight in the half, as Blackburn only collected four. The other major factor was Millkin shot 57.9 percent from the field, while Blackburn shot only 39 percent from the field.

Blackburn was led by senior, Briana Rae who scored 24 points on 10-16 shooting and grabbed ten rebounds. This marks Briana’s first double-double of the season. Senior, Alicia George added another 16 points and dished out two assists as well. Millikin was led by Kelsey Going who ended the game with 21 points, six rebounds and two assists.

The Blackburn Women’s Basketball Team is 0-1 and will be back in action on Friday, November 21 in Pella, Iowa against the Dutch of Central College. The game will start at 5:30 pm. The team will continue their weekend trip on Saturday, November 22 in Rock Island, Ill. against the Vikings of Augustana College. This game will is scheduled to tipoff at 7:00 pm.