The Bluffton University women's basketball team used a 39-16 advantage in the middle two quarters to post a dominating 64-43 win over Mount St. Joseph on Saturday, Dec. 18, 2021. Bluffton improved to 3-4 overall and 1-2 in the Heartland Conference, while MSJ slipped to 3-5 and 1-3 in the HCAC.

Following a first 10 minutes when both teams could not get out of their own way while combining for a whopping 18 turnovers, Bluffton found its stroke, outscoring the Lions 19-8 en route to a 33-21 lead at the break. Junior Sammy Shardo (Findlay/Liberty-Benton) sandwiched a pair of long-range threes around an Olivia Zender (Fostoria/Hopewell Louden) make from distance as Bluffton opened a 31-16 lead at the 2:10 mark of the second quarter after Morgan Smith dumped in two quick deuces!

The Beavers continued their onslaught to open period three as Prigge and Brianna Gillig (New Riegel) combined for 10 straight points in a span of less than a minute and a half. Prigge drained back-to-back triples in the 10-0 run, both thanks to feeds from Shardo. Layups by Angel Schneider (Columbus Grove) and Smith pushed the lead to 51-28 late in the third stanza.

Four straight points from Smith and a Shardo trifecta gave the Beavers their largest lead of the game (62-31) with 7:12 to play, paving the way for Coach Shutler to unload the bench as everyone able to play got time on the floor. The Mount ended the game with a 12-2 spurt, but it was far from enough as Bluffton picked up its first conference victory with the 64-43 win on a rainy Saturday afternoon.

Smith led the Beavers with her first collegiate double-double of 18 points and 11 boards, both career highs! She was 8-of-13 from the field and chipped in with a pair of assists. Gillig notched her 18th career double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Shardo knocked down 4-of-6 from beyond the arc for 14 points and she doled out a career-best six dimes. Gillig, Schneider and Ella Zaborowski (Toledo/Toledo Christian) all pitched in with three assists for the victors. Prigge finished with career highs of eight points, six rebounds, two assists and three steals.

Bluffton ripped down 15 more rebounds (57-42) in the victory. MSJ turned it over one more time (20-19) as the two squads finished with 39 total miscues. The Beavers hit 26-of-75 (34.7 percent) from the field, including 8-of-20 (40 percent) from distance. MSJ was a paltry 14-of-58 (24.1 percent) from the field and just 4-for-26 (15.4 percent) on threes. The Lions also struggled from the line, hitting only 11-of-21 for 52.4 percent. The home team finished with a 28-16 edge in the paint and 26-12 advantage in bench scoring.

The women travel to Adrian College for a 6 p.m. meeting with the Bulldogs on Wednesday, Dec. 22, before heading home for Christmas.