ROME, Ga. -- As the final week of the regular season got under way, the Lady Scots were on the road to take on Berry College Tuesday night. Back in November, the two teams met at Covenant, and even with brilliant performances by freshman Jessie Blankenship and junior Hannah Craft, it was not enough to surpass Berry as the Vikings won 70-61. Berry has been on a hot streak of recent, winning 7 of their last 10 games, but the Lady Scots were looking to get back on track and finish the regular season off strong leading into the NCCAA regional tournament. The first half was tightly competitive as the lead bounced back and forth from each team. But the second half belonged to the Lady Vikings as they ran away with the game, finishing with a score of 73-50.
The first half started well as each team scored in their first 2 possessions. From there, the score continued to swing back and forth resulting in 6 ties. The Lady Scots lead peaked at 5 points with a layup by sophomore guard Kiaira Cooper, pushing the lead to 17-12. But the lead did not last long as it was erased in two straight possessions with 5 straight points from the Lady Viking's senior point guard Holly Compton. This small comeback and a hard foul on Lady Viking guard Brittany Coughlan sparked a late run for Berry as they finished the half, the last 3:29, on a 16-8 run giving them the slight edge 34-28 as the halftime horn sounded.
Both teams shot the ball well in the first half. Covenant went 12-27 (44.4%) from the floor, and Berry hit 14-31 (45.2) from the floor holding the slight edge. The scoring was balanced for the Lady Scots as Blankenship shot 4-5 from the floor for 8 points. Craft hit two shots and a free throw adding 5 points of her own. Cooper, Margaret Cross and Emily Dupree all contributed 4 points each. Core added her one three-pointer showing that with patience the Lady Scots can evenly score. The Lady Scots also hit the glass hard, out-rebounding Berry 22 to 12.
The biggest issue in the first half was the turnovers for the Lady Scots as they turned the ball over 15 times in the first half, but even with the large number of turnovers, they were still in the game only down 6 points.
It did not take long for the Lady Vikings to find their stride in the second half. Berry quickly pushed their lead to double digits with another made bucket by Compton at the 16:13 to build the score to 46-36 in favor of Berry. Untimely turnovers were the major contributing factor to the large lead Berry built as the second half progressed.
The Berry lead was strong, only getting as low as 12 points with a made lay-up by Cooper with 9:17 remaining in the game. The Lady Scots did not score again until sophomore Jessica Chittenden scored with a great post move with 3:17 left in the game. By this point, the Lady Viking lead had grown too large to come back against. The final score was 73-50, leaving the Lady Scots just one remaining game this regular season.
"Last night, Berry played with a lot of energy and excitement," Head Coach Corey Mullins stated. "It was senior night and their last game of the year, so they play like it was a championship game at the end of a season. They played with a lot of passion and that reflected in their ability to defend and pressure us. I was pleased with our offense; we were pressured but still shot 49% from the floor. Our posts played really well. We out-rebounded them by 10 in the first half, and our post players combined for 12-18 from the floor. I was really pleased with that."
Cooper led the Lady Scots with scoring as she put in 13 points. Right behind her, Blankenship added 12 of her own. Cross scored 6 points, while Chittenden and Core both put in 5 points apiece. Craft also scored 5 points, ripped down a team high 8 rebounds and handed out a team high 4 assists.
The Lady Scots travel down the mountain, but don't leave the city of Chattanooga, to take on Tennessee Temple this Thursday at 5:30pm.
