The Beavers lost at home to the Highlanders of MacMurray College today by a final of 69-59 and drop to 2-4 in the SLIAC and 4-8, overall. Blackburn was unable to overcome a slow start in the first quarter in which the home team was outscored 23-9. That was the lone period in which the Beavers were outscored by the rival Highlanders but Blackburn was unable to cut the lead to any closer than 6 points late in the third quarter despite outscoring MacMurray in every other quarter and winning the steal and turnover battle by +7 and +9, respectively. This game was decided on the boards and that wound up being the key factor in the Highlanders holding off the Beavers as the visitors won the boards 45-30 (+15 margin). In addition, the Beavers struggled to score in the paint against the Highlander defense. Throughout the season, Blackburn has shown great commitment to pounding the ball inside and getting to line (the combination of these being a large part of the Beaver offense). However, the Beavers were outscored in the paint by 14 points by making just five field goals in the paint for a total of 10 points. Blackburn did get to the line and made one more free throw than MacMurray, but the loss of the rebounding battle and the below average game in the paint cost the home team this game.
Jenna Dudra (23) lead the Beavers in scoring with 16 points and shot 6-10 from the field made 2 of 4 three point shots. Dudra tied for second in scoring for the game with Abby Stotler (20) of the Highlanders. The leading scorer for the game was Alexis Doyle (13) of the visitors who scored 17 points despite logging only 23 minutes due to foul trouble. Callista Francis (42) lead the game in rebounds with 13 boards while adding 10 points and two blocks off the bench for Blackburn in a solid double-double performance.
The Beavers will look to bounce back in the SLIAC Wednesday, January 15th, as they travel to take on the Webster University Gorloks at 5:30 PM CTE.