MEMPHIS-The Christian Brothers University Lady Bucs built a 19-point first-half lead and held on for a 64-57 win over Valdosta State Saturday night at Canale Arena.
HOW IT HAPPENED:• The Lady Bucs (5-6, 3-4 GSC) blew the game open early in the second quarter, using a 19-3 run capped by a
Madison Luckett (Memphis, Tenn./St. Benedict HS) layup that gave them a 35-18 lead with 5:02 remaining in the first half.
• CBU led by as many as 19 points, once in each half, first at 39-20 on a
Rachel Lee (Jackson, Tenn./Jackson Christian School) layup with 59 seconds remaining. After the Lady Blazers (6-6, 2-5) trimmed the CBU lead to 12, CBU stretched its advantage back to 19 again when Lee sank a free throw to give CBU a 54-35 cushion with 2:03 remaining in the third quarter.
• From there, Valdosta exploded for a comeback, using an 18-4 run to pull within 58-53 on a pair of Madi Mitchell free throws with 4:33 remaining. They whittled the lead all the way to two points at 59-57 on a Jo Bistrow layup with 2:33 remaining, but the Lady Bucs scored the final five points, three on a Lee three-point play with 1:16 remaining, to salt away the victory.
KEY STATS:• Lee scored a team-high 18 points with three steals.
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Courtney Banks (Memphis, Tenn./White Station HS) scored 16 with four assists.
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Samantha Reeves (Somerville, Tenn./Fayette Academy) tacked on 11.
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Ashley Schaefer (Cincinnati, Ohio/Sycamore HS) scored eight with six rebounds, three steals and three assists.
• CBU shot 41.7 percent (20-of-48) for the game, including 30 percent (6-of-20) from three-point range. CBU shot 53.8 percent (14-of-26) in the opening half but just 27.3 percent (6-of-22) in the second half.
• Valdosta shot 40.4 percent (23-of-57) overall, including 37.5 percent (6-of-16) from beyond the arc.
• The Lady Blazers out-rebounded CBU 37-21, including an 18-8 edge in offensive boards, but the Lady Bucs forced 16 Valdosta turnovers while committing just six, tying the NCAA-era school record for fewest turnovers in a game. CBU also committed six turnovers Jan. 15, 2015 at Union.
COACH CONDRA'S THOUGHTS:"This game was really huge for us, because we were in that 4-way tie for 7th place with Valdosta, West Al and West Georgia. So we get to move up a spot, so we feel really good about that."
"The other thing I like. Wednesday against Harding, we get down 20, we cut it back to 1 and end up making some mistakes and end up losing by eight. But tonight, we get up by 19. This is a position we haven't really been in. Even though the fourth quarter wasn't pretty, we did enough to win the game. I was really pleased with our effort tonight."
"One of the things we've been trying to figure out is what's the rotation going to be? I really like how Makayla Enochs has come in and given us some solid minutes. When you're subbing mostly freshmen and sophomores there's going to be some growing pains. I think we're starting to figure that out a little bit with Makayla and with Lindsey Owen. I think the next thing to figure out for us is going to be who's the one that comes in and gives Courtney a breather. They're learning, they're getting there, just trying to figure it out as we go."
"I told our team if we can get to where we can score 65, we can win games. Because I defensively, we're good enough to hold teams below 60. Tonight's one of those examples. We're able to get to 64 and our defense holds up and we win the game. Every game we have one of those quarters where we don't score double digits. If we can get consistent and play 40 minutes, we can be a pretty decent team."
