Box Score BOWLING GREEN, Ky.- Despite another valiant effort, playing in its fourth-straight road contest, the Belmont University women's basketball team (8-5) fell 80-65, to Western Kentucky (9-2), Tuesday evening at E.A. Diddle Arena in Bowling Green, Ky.
After a Darby Maggard (Larwill, Ind.) 3-pointer at the at the 4:28 mark in the fourth quarter, the Bruins had stormed back to cut the deficit to 67-65. Western Kentucky would respond with a 13-0 scoring run to close the game and squash Belmont's ferocious rally. Maggard finished with 15 points, eight rebounds and six assists. The freshman guard led BU in rebounds and assists in the hard-fought loss. Maggard's backcourt mate, Sierra Jones (Huntsville, Ala.) also turned in an excellent performance as she finished with 17 points and five assists. Jones played exceptional in the third quarter specifically Tuesday night, as she scored 14 points and at one point scored 10-straight points for Belmont in the third quarter alone. Kylee Smith (Alpharetta, Ga.) completed the trio of double digit scorers for Belmont with an 11 point effort.
"The toughest team won tonight. All you need to do is look at the rebounds. They had 21 offensive rebounds and we had 21 defensive rebounds. They scored 19 points off of offensive rebounds," said Head Coach Cameron Newbauer after the game.
The Bruins were outrebounded for just the second time all season in the loss.
WKU was paced by Tashia Brown who scored 29 points while teammate Kendall Noble registered a 24 point, nine rebound game.
"Brown and Noble played very well for them and we just didn't have an answer for them defensively," added Newbauer.
The contest from the get go was of the up-tempo variety as the team's combined for 43 first quarter points. The Bruins charged back from an early seven point deficit and played well offensively to battle with the Lady Toppers. Maggard didn't waste much time getting into double figures as she scored 10 points in the first quarter. BU trailed 22-21, after shooting 9-of-17 from the field in the first. BU's 21 point first quarter was its most points in an opening quarter since Nov. 9 against Trevecca.
WKU scored four straight to open the second quarter, and managed to keep up the high-octane pace. Belmont on the other hand, was not able to bring the same effectiveness into the second frame as it scored just 10 points in the second quarter. WKU finished shooting 56% from the field in the first half, and led by as many as 13 in the second quarter. Belmont finished 45% from the field including 4-of-7 from 3 point land. The Bruins were outrebounded 20-13 by WKU in the first half.
The third quarter belonged to Jones as her 10-straight points helped Belmont cut the WKU lead to just one at 51-50 with under four minutes remaining in the third. The Lady Toppers responded with a 12-2 to close the stanza, in an eerily similar fashion to the run they would employ to conclude the game. At one point in the quarter Belmont was outscoring WKU 18-8 but the late Lady Hilltopper run narrowed BU's third quarter advantage to just 21-20.
Four of BU's five non-conference losses came against RPI Top 100 teams.
The Bruins have now concluded the non-conference portion of their schedule and open Ohio Valley Conference action Thursday, Dec. 31, at SEMO. After SEMO, Belmont finishes its season-long six-game road wing at SIUE on Jan.6.
