MEMPHIS-The Christian Brothers University Lady Bucs outscored No. 22 Union 23-8 in the fourth quarter Saturday night as they claimed a 63-53 win to remain unbeaten in Canale Arena this season.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
• The Lady Bulldogs (5-2, 1-1 GSC) used a 13-0 run in the middle of the first quarter to take a 13-3 lead on a Jada Perkins layup with 2:31 remaining in the first quarter, a lead they would hold into the fourth quarter.
• The Lady Bucs (4-2, 1-1) answered with a 7-2 burst to pull within 15-10 on a
Samantha Reeves (Somerville, Tenn./Fayette Academy) free throw with 42 seconds remaining in the first quarter.
• The Union lead stayed between two and eight points throughout the second and third quarters, with a Perkins jumper giving them a 45-40 edge going into the fourth quarter.
• CBU opened the fourth quarter with six straight points on a pair of baskets from Reeves and a layup by
Madison Luckett (Memphis, Tenn./St. Benedict HS) that gave them a 46-45 lead with 8:00 remaining, their first since 3-2. A
Makayla Enochs (Finley, Tenn./Dyer County HS) three-pointer with 7:18 remaining in the game put them ahead for good as they held Union to 2-of-11 from the field with four turnovers in the fourth quarter.
KEY STATS:
• Reeves scored a game-high 23 points with eight rebounds, four assists and three steals.
•
Courtney Banks (Memphis, Tenn./White Station HS) had 15 points with five assists.
• Enochs scored 10 with seven rebounds.
• The Lady Bucs shot 40.4 percent (23-of-57) for the game, including 31.8 percent (7-of-22) from three-point range as they overcame shooting just 50 percent (10-of-20) at the free throw line. Union finished 36.5 percent (19-of-52) overall and just 13.6 percent (3-of-22) from beyond the arc.
• Union out-rebounded the Lady Bucs 36-34, but CBU held an 11-10 edge in offensive boards and forced 18 Union turnovers while committing just eight.
NOTABLE:
• The win over Union was CBU's first since a 56-55 win in the 1985-86 season, snapping a streak of 23 straight losses to Union.
• The win was CBU's first over a nationally-ranked opponent since Feb. 1, 2010, when they defeated No. 7 Arkansas Tech 78-72.
HEAD COACH SARAH CONDRA'S THOUGHTS:
On breaking a 30-year drought against Union:
"It's huge. I had no clue that it had been that long. Eric told me before I went in the locker room, so the girls were pretty pumped about that. It's huge for our team. This is the first time we've beaten a ranked opponent since I've been here as a coach. I'm just proud of the kids. They've bought into our system and what we do, and they've bought into themselves. They've trusted the process, they've trusted themselves and I couldn't be more proud of them as a whole group."
On the fourth quarter comeback:
"We were down, we were down. We go into the fourth quarter and I kept telling them we've been here before. We were here Tuesday. We've been here before. If we will just lock down on defense, get some stops there, we'll get the flow offensively."
"The first half we didn't shoot well from anywhere. From three, from two, from layups, from the stripe. We didn't shoot well at all. I told them at halftime, we're just not running our offense well. The shots we got weren't shots that we're used to taking. In the second half and especially the fourth quarter, we started actually flowing our offense. We've got to fix some of these layups and start finishing those."
On back-to-back wins over Harding and Union:
"I can't even think right now, I'm trying to process it all. I give them all the credit in the world, they have completely bought in. We're getting great play from so many players. We're getting great bench play. We're getting bench play that we haven't gotten in six years, and that's huge for us. I give credit to Madison Luckett for being a senior and embracing the role coming off the bench for us right now and providing that spark for us."
Looking ahead to Valdosta State Thursday night:
"There's not a game in our conference that's ever easy. The story of our year right now is we need to focus on what we do. That's been our whole theme. Focus on us. Trust the process and success will find you, and right now we're finding some success."
WHAT'S NEXT:
The Lady Bucs return to action Thursday night at 5 p.m. as they host Valdosta State.
