The Blackburn College Women’s Basketball team opened the 2015-16 season this evening against Augustana College.  Augustana hails from the competitive Collegiate Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin.  This season saw a new rule change, where instead of two 20 minute halves, teams played four ten minute quarters.

It was a defensive battle early on, both teams struggling to find any offense.  But Augustana managed to pull ahead to a solid lead to end the first quarter 18-8.  Augustana’s press became a tough task for Blackburn, who were still looking to find success offensively.

The Beavers were still struggling with Augustana’s press and found themselves down 34-14 at the half.

In the second half, Blackburn found success offensively when they began to pick apart that Augustana press.  However they still couldn’t find the answer defensively and entered the fourth quarter down 57-28.

In the fourth quarter, the Beavers did their best to cut into as much as the deficit as they could.  Yet the gap was too large and Blackburn dropped the opener 72-35.

Despite their offensive struggles, the Beavers kept pace rebounding with Augustana edging them out 42-41.  Danae Smith and Aleisha Stiltner led their team in scoring with eight points apiece.  Angela Andrews led all players with nine rebounds.

Blackburn will look to bounce back tomorrow afternoon when they host Iowa’s Central College at 5:00 pm in another non-conference matchup.