Box Score ROCK HILL, S.C. – The Belmont women's basketball team was unable to duplicate its come from behind feat on day two of the Winthrop Classic and was handed its first loss of the 2010-11 campaign. The Bruins fell to tournament champion, Central Michigan, 102-71, on Sunday afternoon.
A slow start hampered the Bruins to open the contest but junior Tristan Daniel (Waynesboro, Tenn.) netted Belmont's first points of the day. Freshman Molly Ernst (Louisville, Ky.) drained back-to-back three pointers from the top of the arc to close the gap to 15-8 by the 15:28 mark. The team went ice cold from the floor, slipping into a drought that lasted just under four minutes, and the Chippewas were able to build a 15 point advantage. Fouls began to cost BU throughout the first stanza and CMU was able to easily pile on the points from the free throw line.
The spotty shooting continued to plague the Bruins as the half drew near a close and the team slipped as low as 16.7 percent shooting percentage before picking it up before the final horn. The Chippewas eventually blew their lead up to as many as 29, 40-11, before the Bruins could begin chipping away at the lead with six minutes remaining. Over the next four minutes, treys from Ernst and successful trips to the stripe by senior Shaunda Strayhorn (Dyersburg, Tenn.) and Daniel narrowed the gap to 22. The front half of a pair at the line by Strayhorn with seven seconds left sent the Bruins to the locker room down 47-26.
Strayhorn opened the second stanza with a trey from the left corner and the Bruins quickly turned up a defensive spark that seemed to be lacking in the first half. Sophomore Kristin Nash's (Stone Mountain, Ga.) free throws helped Belmont to inch as close as 21 but that would be as close as they would come for the remainder of the game.
A drive in the lane and a triple from Strayhorn brought the Bruin fans and the bench to their feet as BU closed the gap to 23, 66-43, with just over 12 minutes remaining in the contest. A pair at the stripe knocked down by Daniel completed a 7-0 run for the Bruins and moved them to within 23, 66-45, with just under 12 minutes left in regulation. The team's inconsistent floor shooting and CMU's already large lead was just too much to overcome down the stretch, Belmont battled back to trim the Chippewa lead down to 28,6, 85-59, with five and a half minutes on the clock but that would be as close as they would get. CMU went on to take the first-ever meeting between the programs, 102-71.
CMU shot 41.3 percent from the floor, 70.7 from the free-throw line and 25 percent from three-point range.
The Chippewas were led in scoring by Shonda Long, who scored 19 points. Also reaching double digits were Nikki DiGuilio and Brandie Baker, who each added 17, and Kaihla Szunko, who contributed 16. Taylor Johnson and Skylar Miller recorded 12 and 11 points, respectively.
Belmont shot 32.1 percent from the floor, 73 percent from the charity stripe, and 36.4 percent from behind the three-point arc.
Ernst led the Bruins with a career-high 20 points followed by Strayhorn's 19, with 11 points coming from the free-throw line. Daniel added 11 points in the effort.
"Although the outcome wasn't we expected, I was pleased with the overall effort and the fight in our kids," said Head Coach Brittney Ezell. "We faced a hot CMU team. They statistically shot well and penetrated well. Today definitely exposed some areas we need to work on but there were some bright spots. Now we just need to prepare for UTM on Wednesday."
Named to the All-Tournament team were Molly Ernst and Shaunda Strayhorn.
Belmont returns to action on Wednesday when it hosts UT-Martin in its home opener at the Curb Event Center. Game time is set for 7 p.m. The contest will be broadcast live on ASun.TV and can be heard online via the Bruins Sports Network.
