CHATTANOOGA -- Coming off a loss to Berry College on Tuesday night, the Lady Scots were looking to bounce back against the cross town opponent of TN-Temple on Thursday. These two teams met in January, but even with school being cancelled for the week with inches of snow on the ground, Temple had the upper hand. Freshman Jessie Blankenship went 10-11 from the floor and scored 25 points that night. She also accounted for 44% of the Lady Scots total points, but it was not enough to edge the Lady Crusaders in the 10 point decision, 67-57. Covenant has been good against teams the second time around in the schedule and were expecting nothing less, but Temple had other plans. From the lay-up off the opening tip all the way to halftime, the Lady Crusaders held the lead which soared as high as 12. Even with good offensive runs, the Lady Scots kept the edge at its narrowest margin of 1 point several times. Mid-way through the second half seemed to be the breaking point as Temple began to build its lead. But this time they would only continue to build it until the final buzzer sounded, leaving the scoreboard reading 75-54 in favor of Temple.
Leading the way for the Lady Scots at the half was junior Margaret Cross as she hit 5-7 three-pointers, giving her a total of 15 points and a staggering three-point shooting percentage of 71.4%. This was the third time Cross has totaled at least 15 points in the first half of a game this season. Blankenship connected on one shot and 4 free throws, giving her 6 points. Sophomore Kiaira Cooper led the team in rebounding with 4 while junior Hannah Craft followed close behind with 3 of her own. Sophomore Ruth Gibson lead the team with 3 assists, and junior Christine Core handed out 2. The shooting percentages across the board were good as they shot 40.9% from the floor (9-22) and 85.7% from the free throw line (6-7). The team also combined for 55.6% from behind the arc (5-9).
Though the Lady Scots battled hard, the Lady Crusaders continued to make big shot after big shot, building a lead that would become too much for the Lady Scots to overcome. What seemed to be lacking from the offense this time around was the consistent post play which had been so strong for the Lady Scots the entire season. The posts combined shot 5-18 from the floor, and with that, the offense became one-dimensional. The worst time for a scoring slump is the in the last 5 minutes of a game and unfortunately the Lady Scots found themselves there. Cooper made a lay-up with 6:39 remaining, putting the score at 58-45, but the Lady Scots did not score again until the 2:25 mark with a free throw by Cooper. By this time the 13 point lead had swelled to 20 and the game was firmly in the hands of the Lady Crusaders. And as the final buzzer of the regular season sounded, it was in favor of Temple, who boasted a 75-54 victory.
Cross finished with a game-high 21, the only person on either team hitting more than one three-pointer. Cooper came through in the second half as she finished shooting 6-12 from the floor and hit 5 free throws to add 17 points. Blankenship hit only 3 shots but put in 4 free throws, giving her 10 points on the night.
"In the first half, Tennessee Temple did a nice job with their pressure," commented head coach Corey Mullins. "We didn't take advantage of the opportunities that they gave us, and we turned the basketball over a few too many times in the first half to give them the lead. In the second half, we did a better job of controlling the basketball, but we just didn't finish with the consistency that we needed. It was a good game for Tennessee Temple. They came out and played us well and pressured us well. Mo did a great job for us, hitting threes for us down the stretch. Kiaira also did a good job down the stretch, getting to the rim and making things happen. We need to learn to play with more confidence and poise over the course of 40 minutes. We have a few days off here, and it will be nice to relax and get back to square one as far as our fundamentals and building this program back up for tournament time."
The Lady Scots have 13 days left before the start of the NCCAA Regional Tournament that will be hosted at Covenant College starting March 10. Game times are still yet to be released.
