Box Score BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- A valiant comeback fell just short in the first round of the WNIT for Belmont Women's Basketball (14-18). The Bruins were edged, 48-47, on the road at Indiana (19-12) on Thursday night.
The Hoosiers used a quick flurry to pull away early, 11-4, before redshirt freshman Frankie Joubran (Detroit, Mich.) found the bottom of the net, snapping a briefly BU scoring lapse. Belmont fell silent offensively again, this time for upwards of four and a half minutes before freshman Lauren Thompson (Franklin, Tenn.) drew the foul on her layup to snap the icy spell and move the Bruins to within seven, 18-11 with 7:26 left on the clock. A tremendous defensive effort under the IU basket halted them from scoring and junior Katie Carroll (Lilburn, Ga.) drilled a triple near the top of the arc to close the gap to four, 18-14, 90 seconds later.
The Bruins continued to lean on strong defense in the waning minutes, holding the Hoosiers scoreless for nearly six minutes. The effort saw BU push to within one, 20-19, after a three pointer and pair at the stripe by junior Jordyn Luffman (Lawrenceburg, Tenn.) with 1:41 left in the half. Classmate Taylor Mills (Corryton, Tenn.) followed with a jumper in the lane to keep BU within one, 22-21, but IU netted one final field goal to take a 24-21 lead into the locker room.
After the break, IU opened with a 5-0 run before sophomore Blair Bryce (Red Oak, Texas) netted her first points of the night from the left elbow to get Belmont back into the game. The Hoosiers continued to add points and by the 14:50 mark, they had gained their first double digit lead, 34-24. IU would expand its lead to as many as 14, 38-24, before Belmont began its comeback efforts.
Back-to-back threes by Mills followed by a Joubran tip-in set an 8-0 run that moved BU to within eight, 40-32, with just under eight minutes left in regulation. The flurry forced the IU bench to burn a timeout.
The Bruins refused to give up and dug their heels in on both sides of the ball, working to whittle down the point differential. By the 4:33 mark, Belmont was within five, 44-39. A pair of layups by Simone Deloach expanded the Hoosier lead to nine but back-to-back trifectas by Carroll and Luffman from opposite corners made it a three-point game, 48-45, with 1:46 left.
One minute later, a jumper by Joubran closed the gap to one point, 48-47. The teams battled for possession and Belmont came out on top. After moving the ball onto its half of the court, BU called timeout. Out of the brief break, the Bruins looked to drain a three but the attempt rimmed out with 10 seconds left. With fouls to give, Belmont whittled seconds off until it put IU in the bonus. Nicole Bell missed the free throw and BU grabbed the rebound for one final heave but time expired.
Indiana shot 33.3 percent from the floor, 20 percent from three-point range, and 50 percent from the free-throw line. The Hoosiers held the advantage in rebounds, 43-38, and steals, 4-2.
IU was led in scoring by Lyndsay Leikem and Larryn Brooks, who each scored 11 points. Simone Deloach added 10. Alexis Gassion grabbed 10 rebounds.
Belmont shot 34.6 percent from the hardwood, 26.1 percent from behind the three-point arc, and 62.5 percent from the charity stripe.
Luffman notched a double-double with a game-high 15 points and 10 rebounds. Joubran pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds and netted nine points. She also had two blocks. Mills finished with eight points, with six coming from behind the arc.
Belmont finishes its first season in the Cameron Newbauer era with a 14-18 mark and its first trip to the postseason since 2007.
