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Highs and Lows for BC Basketball

by Jordan Wood

After a promising start in their 2017-2018 season opener against Robert Morris University, the Blackburn women’s basketball team began to fall short of their own expectations. They have since lost three successive matches, falling to a 1-3 record entering Wednesday’s matchup against SLIAC rival MacMurray College.

Throughout their three game losing streak, turnovers were a major contributor to the team’s struggles. Their 105 turnovers during that time frame — an average of 35 per game — has been a double-edged sword, not only taking scoring opportunities away from the Beavers but also giving the opposing team more. In the those three games, Blackburn lost by a combined 77 points but 91 of their opponents’ points came off of turnovers (30.3 per game), showing that if Blackburn could limit their turnovers, they could easily turn their losing streak into a winning one.

Unfortunately for the Beavers, that turnaround would not come against the Highlanders. Blackburn fell behind early at the hands of a 12-2 run on 5-8 shooting by MacMurray. The team was able to take a one point lead early in the second quarter but again, the Highlanders continued to hit their shots, taking control of the game once again and going on a 20-3 run. The Beavers continued to fight in hopes of making a comeback but were unable to climb their way back into the game despite sophomore Maria Cline’s 26 points — a career best. They dropped the rivalry game by a score of 76-62 and 1-4 on the season.

In men’s action, the Beavers took an early lead off of a layup by senior Jake Lochhead just 25 seconds into the contest. The Highlanders tied the game shortly after but the tie would be the closest they would come to topping Blackburn. The men were able to distribute the ball well along with limiting their turnovers and capitalizing on MacMurray’s mistakes, building a 17 point lead shortly before the end of the first half.

Throughout the second half, the Highlanders continued to chip away into the lead, getting within four points of the Beavers with under a minute to go, however Blackburn would stand strong and make several big shots down the stretch and pulling off the 88-82 victory and improving to 3-1.

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