MEMPHIS-No. 20/14 North Alabama held the Christian Brothers University Lady Bucs to their second-lowest field goal percentage of the season Thursday as they handed the Lady Bucs a 64-43 loss Thursday night.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
• The Lions (19-2, 12-2 GSC) scored the game's first 14 points and never trailed, holding the Lady Bucs (8-12, 7-7) to 0-for-10 shooting with two turnovers before
Courtney Banks (Memphis, Tenn./White Station HS) broke the drought with a three-pointer with 2:11 remaining in the first quarter. Brittany Panetti scored 12 of her game-high 23 points during the op
• CBU steadily whittled the deficit down to six as
Shelmesha Barbee (Ripley, Tenn./Ripley HS) capped a 14-6 burst with a jumper that brought CBU within 20-14 with 6:22 remaining in the first half.
• UNA answered with six straight to extend their lead back to double figures, then they put it away with a 10-0 run to start the third quarter on two Panetti layups and three Emma Wallen layups.
KEY STATS:
• Banks led the Lady Bucs with 11 points, finishing 4-of-8 from the field including 3-of-6 from three-point range.
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Shelmesha Barbee (Ripley, Tenn./Ripley HS) added eight with five rebounds and two blocks in 18 minutes off the bench.
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Mikaela Blissett (Oran, Mo./Scott County Central HS) grabbed a team-high nine rebounds to go with five points.
• The Lady Bucs shot 24.2 percent (16-of-66) overall, including 20 percent (4-of-20) from three-point range. UNA finished 42.9 percent (27-of-63) overall including 23.8 percent (5-of-21) from beyond the arc.
• The Lions out-rebounded CBU 53-35, including a 10-9 edge in offensive rebounds. UNA committed 16 turnovers to the Lady Bucs' 11.
HEAD COACH SARAH CONDRA'S THOUGHTS:
"From the beginning, I just don't know. When they started up 6-0 and those were all just layups and then we get three attempts at layups and just rolled out. Then it got extended to 8-0 and then 12-2and we just never could get going. Defensively we were big enough to win, but offensively you can't score 43 points and beat anybody."
On Brittany Panetti and her 23 points:
"She's good. I thought if we could hold her to around her average at 17 points a game, we would be fine. A player like that we're not going to stop, but I was hoping we could at least make the shot attempts that she had tougher. I felt like everything she scored was in the paint and that's difficult to guard when you're 6'2 and we're 5'9, that's hard. You have to fight and get position and we just didn't do enough."
Looking forward:
"We can't lament about this loss. We've got UAH on Saturday, which is a big game for us so we have to just move on. We can come into practice and get a bit better and suit up again on Saturday. We're right in the thick of things. We've just got to keep our heads about us and get the win on Saturday to stay right in the thick of things. Spots 4 through 8 are pretty open. If we can just stay positive and work to be a little better we'll be fine. I'll give them credit, they proved that they fight and grind. They tried, they just couldn't score and that's what it comes down to."
WHAT'S NEXT:
The Lady Bucs return to action Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. as they host Alabama Huntsville.
