February 11, 2017

Stats

ANDERSON, Ind. - The Bluffton University women caught fire with an 18-4 run in the third quarter en route to a 69-57 victory at O.C. Lewis Gymnasium on Saturday, Feb. 11, 2017. Bluffton improved to 19-4 overall and 13-3 in the Heartland Conference, while the Ravens slipped to 5-18 and 2-14 in the HCAC. The Beaver victory nailed down a first round bye and #2 seed in the Heartland Conference Tournament which will be staged at Rose-Hulman in Hulbert Arena on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 24-25.

Seven straight points early in the third quarter put Anderson up 35-34 with 7:07 on the clock. The Raven lead was short lived as a TJ Mills (Dayton/Chaminade-Julienne) deep ball and back-to-back Kaycee Rowe (Harrod/Allen East) buckets ignited am 18-4 Bluffton flurry that made the score 52-39 following a pair of Breanna Graham (Springboro) freebies at the 1:24 mark.

The Beavers led by as many as 17 points in the final stanza thanks to eight counters from senior post Rachel Beining (Ottoville) who was a key cog in Bluffton's 40 points in the paint. Rowe and Macey Sheerer (Bucyrus) added four points apiece in the fourth en route to the 69-57 victory.

Rowe led the Beaver offense for the sixth straight game, dropping in 21 points on 7-of-13 from the field and a perfect 6-of-6 at the stripe. She pulled down seven rebounds and picked up four steals. Beining and Sheerer added 16 and 14 points, respectively. Sheerer's 14 leaves her just six tallies away from 1,000 for her career! Mills finished with nine points and two assists, while Sheerer doled out a team-high five dimes. Beining's 10 boards added up to her 22nd career double-double.

Bluffton hit 27-of-67 from the field (40.3 percent), compared to 23-of-65 (35.4 percent) for the Ravens. The Beavers knocked down 13-of-15 (86.7 percent) at the line, while Anderson struggled to an 8-of-22 afternoon (36.4 percent) on freebies. The home team ripped down six more rebounds (48-42), but the Ravens also turned it over eight more times (19-11).

The Bluffton women travel to Earlham College on Wednesday, Feb. 15, looking for win number 20 this season. TIp-off is slated for 7:30 p.m. at Shuckman Court in Richmond, Ind.

-BEAVERS-