Saturday, January 20, 2007

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The resounding block by Jessica Bobbitt as time expired basically summed up the dominance of the Belmont women’s basketball team (13-4, 7-0 A-Sun) from the opening tip on Saturday night at Allen Arena.

The Bruins crushed Lipscomb (5-12, 3-4 A-Sun), 72-55, and moved to 7-0 in the Atlantic Sun. The Lady Bisons slipped to 3-4 in the league. The win also marked the first time since joining the A-Sun that a Belmont team has opened the season 7-0. The Bruins wasted no time in putting their first points on the board behind a three pointer by junior Brittany Myers after only thirty seconds had come off the clock.

Belmont put together an 8-2 run to go up, 11-4, by the 15:30 mark. Back-to-back lay-ups by Penny Jones kept the Lady Bisons in the game but the Bruins continued to get things done offensively. The game turned into the Amber Rockwell show as she drained 12 points, including two of her trademark NBA range treys, by the 10 minute mark. She also stunned the Lady Bisons with a quick steal and a fast break lay-up to keep the momentum flowing for BU.

Lipscomb started to lean on its three-point shooting to get back into the game, with shots coming from Catie Woods and Dana Carrigan. The Lady Bisons went on an 8-0 run to move within nine, 31-22, with five and a half left before the break. BU went cold from the floor for over four minutes but Lipscomb was unable to capitalize on the opportunity with several wide or too long passes.

A triple by freshman Shaunda Strayhorn restarted the Bruin offensive attack with 1:24 on the clock and senior Destri Bockey followed with her first three of the game with 26 ticks on the clock to give Belmont the 37-24 advantage heading into the locker rooms.

Sophomore Alysha Clark knocked down the first six points for the Bruins to open the second stanza, including a pretty spin-around move in the paint for two, increasing Belmont’s lead to 43-26. A jumper by Rockwell and a pair of baskets at the charity stripe by freshman Angela Roof gave BU a 21-point lead. Katie Rollins netted a pair of free throws to cut the Bruin lead down to 10, 48-38, with just over 10 minutes left in the contest, but a trey by Strayhorn negated the effort and kept BU in front. A jumper and two threes by redshirt freshman Kristin Bunch helped rebuild Belmont’s lead to 20, 62-42, with just over five minutes left in regulation.

The Bruins continued to pile on the points, maintaining their double-digit lead. Back-to-back threes by Carrigan and Woods just under the two minute mark on the clock looked to spark the Lady Bisons to close the gap but Belmont was able stay ahead. Carrigan hit her second three of the half with 15.7 ticks on the clock and Lipscomb called a timeout to try to strategize but it was too little too late. Sophomore Jessica Bobbitt drilled a pair at the charity stripe with 11.2 seconds and with 5.1 seconds on the clock at the other end of the court dramatically swatted a last second shot by Woods to help the Bruins cruise to the 72-55 win.

The Lady Bisons shot 33.3 percent (18-54) from the floor, 32 percent (8-25) from behind the three-point arc and 55 percent (11-20) from the free-throw line. Woods scored a game-high 19 points and Carrigan added 13 in the effort. Jones and Carrigan also led the team in rebounds, pulling down six apiece.

The Bruins shot 42.4 percent (28-66) from the floor and 30.8 percent (8-26) from three-point land. BU knocked down 61.5 percent (8-13) of its shots from the charity stripe. The team dominated in rebounds, 48-33, steals, 10-7, and forced 19 Lady Bison turnovers. Rockwell led the Bruins with 16 points, with Clark and Bobbitt rounding out the double-digit scorers, adding 13 and 10 points, respectively.

Clark also recorded her 11th double-double of the season with a game-high 15 rebounds. Senior Angel Jones returned to the lineup after being out with a stomach virus. She contributed two rebounds.