The Bluffton University women's basketball team recovered from a sluggish start to rout Anderson University 83-59 on Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2022. Bluffton solidified its hold on second place in the HCAC, improving to 12-5 and 7-3 in the conference, while Anderson dipped to 8-9 and 5-5 in the Heartland.
Bluffton trailed 8-3 and 10-8 before going up for good at 14-12 when Morgan Smith (Arlington) knocked down a jumper at the 3:46 mark of period one. That started a string of nine straight points for the junior phenom as Bluffton took a 21-17 lead into the second quarter.
Anderson opened the second stanza with a deuce, but Bluffton rolled off a 23-9 jag to close the half with a commanding 44-26 lead at the break. Smith and freshman Kayla Prigge (Hamler/Patrick Henry) combined for 15 of Bluffton's points with senior Brianna Gillig (New Riegel) netting five counters.
Gillig netted back-to-back buckets to open the third quarter and she hit 5-of-6 for 10 points, helping the home team to a 65-43 lead with 10 minutes to play. Prigge hit from distance with just under a minute on the clock in the period three.
The Beavers led by as many as 29 points late in the game thanks to an Ella Zaborowski (Toledo/Christian) deuce and an old-fashioned three-point play from senior post Emma Saltzman (Arcadia). Zaborowski added another layup and a free throw as time ticked away in Bluffton's 83-59 dismantling of the Ravens.
Smith equaled her career high, set four whole days ago, with 24 points on 11-of-17 shooting from the field. Gillig also topped 20 points with 21 markers on 8-of-17 shooting and a game-high 13 rebounds for her 22nd career double-double. Prigge and Maddie Fitzpatrick (Mount Gilead) added 14 and 10, respectively, making it four Beavers in double figures. Fitzpatrick just missed her first double-double with a career-best nine rebounds. She and Saltzman both dished out five assists. Prigge stuffed the stat sheet with four rebounds, four assists, two blocks an three steals while draining 5-of-9 from the field.
Bluffton hit a red-hot 32-of-59 (54.2 percent) from the field, but the defense was even more impressive as the Beavers limited all-world guard Lexi Dellinger to 20 points on 0-of-1 shooting from outside the arc after the senior standout hit 11-of-16 from distance in Anderson's demolition of MSJ on Saturday. Dellinger earned every point she scored as AU hit just 23-of-69 from the field for a paltry 33.3 percent shooting night. The Ravens were an anemic 26.7 percent (15-of-56) if you discount Dellinger's 8-of-13.
Bluffton hammered away to a ridiculous 50-29 advantage on the boards, but the Beavers also turned it over five more times (14-9). The victors finished with a 44-24 edge in the paint and a 42-11 spread in bench points thanks to 24 from Smith who scored those in just 23 minutes!
Bluffton will head to Lexington, Ky., on Saturday, Jan. 29 where the top two teams in the Heartland Conference will square off. The #3-ranked Transylvania University Pioneers (15-0, 7-0 HCAC) will play host to a Beaver squad that has won 10 of its last 11 en route to second place in the HCAC standings. Tip-off from the Beck Center is slated for 2 p.m. Transy is not allowing visiting fans at this time.
