CARLINVILLE, IL -- Blackburn College Women's Basketball took away their first home win of the season against Mount Mary University, 77-68
The Beavers had four players in double figures, as they were led off the bench by Junior Miley Kwiatkowski with 17 points (15 points coming off the 3-point line). Senior Ashanti Jones followed with 15 points of her own and led the assist category with 7 assists. Freshman Ella Wilson was the third leading scorer with 12 points and Sophmore Caidy Tuetken ended up with 10 points. Tuetken led the Beavers in rebounding, as she tallied 11 rebounds.
The catalyst for the victory was rebounding. Blackburn was relentless in this category as they totaled 55 boards, compared the Mount Mary's 39 rebounds
In the 1st quarter, Blackburn kicked the game off well as they started with a run at the 6:03 mark of the 1st quarter with Ashanti Jones's three-pointer putting them up nine points, culminating a 14-5 run. Mount Mary would chip the lead down to five, as layups by Deja Rivers and Sanai Ballard would make the score, 14-9. Yet, Blackburn's strong defense stopped this run as Miley Kwiatkowski's steal on Ballard and layup took us to the final score of the 1st quarter, 18-12.
In the 2nd quarter, the Blue Angels had a 9-0 run that started with a made free throw at the 4:27 mark by Sanai Ballard and ended with a Na'zyia Bobo three-point shot, which knotted things up between both teams at 28-28. Blackburn responded with a great assist from Tuetken to Freshman Becca Benoit for a layup, to go up by two, 30-28. Despite that with ten seconds remaining in the half, Benoit would send Alexus Hatcher to the line. Hatcher would go on to split both free throws to end the half, 30-29.
In the 3rd quarter, Mount Mary would get the first lead of the game as at the 7:10 mark Deja Rivers would make a layup to give the Blue Angels a lead of one, 33-32. Both teams would battle back and forth. Until Mount Mary went on a 13-6 run with a Vanessa Diaz three-pointer giving them an advantage of seven points, 42-49. Tuetken and Kreup would respond with a three-pointer and layup, respectfully to close the gap to two points. Nevertheless, Brianna Mendez would hit a three at the end of the quarter to make the score, 47-52.
In the 4th quarter, Mount Mary extended their to nine as a layup by Rivers at the 7:13 mark made the score, 52-61. Despite that strong start by Mount Mary, the Beavers were insistent on regaining the lead and going to win the game. Soon after they went on a 15-3 run, which culminated in a layup by Tuetken to give back the lead to BC by three, 67-64. Mount Mary would not give up easily as they would regain the lead again late in the 4th with a layup by Diaz making the score, 67-68. Yet, Kwiatkowski had two late three-pointers that made it hard for the Blue Angels to remount and sealed the game for Blackburn. Late-game fouling sent Senior Elizabeth Morris to make the final two free throws of the game to give us the final score, 77-68.
Blackburn's record improves to 2-2 and will go on to play at Galesburg, IL against Knox College on Tuesday, November 21st at 5 p.m.