On November 15th, the Blackburn College Women's Basketball team kicked off their season with a home opener, against Robert-Morris College-Springfield. With a relatively young team, first year head coach Jim Chandler and the Beavers looked to start the year out on a good note. With an expected high pace game, the Beavers kept up relentless pressure to force turnovers against the Eagles. The Beavers won their season and home opener by a final score of 61-46.
The Beavers found themselves hot from the start as Freshman point guard, Kate Smith knocked down two early threes to give the Beavers the lead. At the end of a high scoring first quarter the score was 21-18. In the second quarter, Blackburn led by as many as five, but at the end of the first half, Robert Morris' E'Lexus Murrell banked home a long three to make the score 29-26 heading into half-time with the Beavers holding on. For the rest of the game, the Beavers and Eagles traded baskets. With 3 minutes remaining, Blackburn pulled away from the Eagles as the final score was 61-46.
Leading the way in scoring for Blackburn was freshmen, Kate Smith 18 points. Also scoring in double figures was freshman, Savannah Kruse with 14. Gariel Pierce led the team in rebounding with 15 boards, and leading the team in assists was Kruse and Smith, both with three. The Beavers tallied 61 points on 32.8% shooting from the field as they forced the Eagles to turn the ball over 25 times.
Leading the way for the Eagles in points was E'Lexus Murrell with 25. Murrell also grabbed a team high 9 boards as well. Leading the team in assists was Shania Shepard with two. The Eagles shot 25.9% from the field and totaled 39 team rebounds.
The Beavers look to start a winning streak as their next game takes place tomorrow night, on November 16th against Concordia College at home. Tip off is set for a 6 pm start.