January 11, 2017
By: Colton Steiner, sports information assistant
NORTH MANCHESTER, Ind. - The Bluffton University women’s basketball team took on Manchester in the first road trip of 2017 and used a stifling defense to quiet the home crowd with a dominating 57-29 win. It marked the fewest points allowed by Bluffton since OSU-Lima and Mary Manse netted 28 points apiece in losses to the Beavers in 1972-73. The victors improved to 12-2 with a 6-1 Heartland Conference mark following their fourth straight win. The Spartans fell to 4-10 overall and 3-4 in conference play.
Bluffton jumped out to a 9-2 start just over four minutes in after MACEY SHEERER (Bucyrus) got to the rack courtesy of an assist from KAYCEE ROWE (Harrod/Allen East). The Beavers were up 11-7 at the end of the quarter after a Rowe layup beat the buzzer.
The second period was all Bluffton as the Beavers went into the break with a 28-14 advantage following a convincing 17-7 spread for the visitors. Bluffton continued to pull away after scoring seven straight points to start the third quarter. A three by Sheerer gave the Beavers a 45-17 lead with 2:53 left in the period.
The fourth quarter would start with Bluffton holding a 45-21 lead but a quick deuce by RACHEL BEINING (Ottoville) ignited a 10-2 spurt which gave the Beavers their largest lead of the night at 55-23 when freshman LJ Olverson (Cincinnati/Princeton) hit from in close with 6:04 to play. The visitors spread the wealth with all 15 players getting in on the action as Bluffton finished off the 57-29 victory.
Bluffton was led by Macey Sheerer's 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting with six boards. Rachel Beining added 12 with nine rebounds and Kaycee Rowe notched six counters, five rebounds and three assists. Chelsea Moore (Delaware/Olentangy) ripped down a career-best 10 boards in the victory.
The Beavers went 22-of-67 (32.8 percent) from the floor and 3-of-12 (25 percent) from behind the arc but their defense played an even bigger impact as they forced the Spartans into a 9-of-46 (19.6 percent) night from the field. Bluffton won the rebounding battle (47-39) and dominated the scoring in the paint (30-14). The Beavers forced 23 turnovers and notched 19 points off those miscues while limiting Manchester's scoring to single digits each quarter!
Bluffton will continue its road trip when the Beavers travel to Hanover on Saturday, Jan. 14, at 4 p.m. before returning to the Sommer Center on Wednesday, Jan. 18, to face 'that team up north!'
-BEAVERS-
