The Bluffton University women's basketball team traveled to Rose-Hulman on Saturday, February 12 to take on RHIT in Heartland Conference action. The red-hot Engineers bolted out to a 35-19 halftime lead and never looked back in securing a crucial 66-44 victory over the visitors. Rose-Hulman improved to 7-9 in the conference and 9-14 overall. Bluffton slipped to 9-14 overall and 6-10 in the HCAC.
Rose took an early 15-2 lead with a couple of freebies from Lauren Meadows and a Meadows trifecta at the 11:05 mark of the first half. A jumper by Lauren Hutton (New Riegel) cut the deficit to 11 (15-4) with 10:14 to play.
Back-to-back scores by Brittany Stegmaier (Garfield/Trinity) pulled Bluffton within seven (17-10), but a triple from Heather Finnell gave Rose-Hulman a commanding 20-10 lead with less than eight minutes in the first half.
An Alisa Dickerson chip shot and a three-pointer from Meadows gave the Engineers a 35-19 advantage at the break.
The Beavers opened the second half with two free throws by Kim Miller (Delphos/St. John's) and a Stegmaier trey which cut the deficit to 12 (36-24) at the 17:51 mark. The Engineers countered with a Meadows layin and a trifecta from Finnell. At the 13:31 mark, Donna Marsh converted a deuce to make the score 47-29.
For the next six minutes the Beavers couldn't get anything started as Rose-Hulman maintained a 20-point lead over Bluffton. A Nicole Klass three-pointer gave the Engineers their largest lead of the game, 61-36. The Engineers finished off Bluffton (66-44), improving RHIT's chances of gaining a berth in the upcoming HCAC tournament while making the road a whole lot tougher for the Beavers.
Bluffton hit just 15-of-53 (28.3 percent) from the field, while the Engineers were a superb 23-of-44 (52.3 percent). The Beavers went 3-of-17 (17.6 percent) from behind the arc, compared to 8-of-13 (61.5 percent) for Rose-Hulman. The home team pulled down twice as many rebounds as Bluffton, posting an astounding 44 to 22 margin on the glass. Bluffton only committed 10 turnovers, compared to 21 for the Engineers.
Brittany Stegmaier led Bluffton with 20 points, on 7-of-18 shooting. Lauren Hutton added 16 markers, on 7-of-12 from the field, and collected five rebounds. The only other Beaver to score was Kim Miller who tallied eight markers.
The Bluffton University women's basketball team will resume Heartland Conference action when they travel to conference rival Defiance College on Wednesday, February 16. The battle between the Beavers and the Yellow Jackets is slated for 7:30 p.m. in the Weaner Center.
