Shooting Woes, Turnovers Send TU to First League Loss
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MOUNT VERNON, Ohio – The Taylor women’s basketball team led Mount Vernon Nazarene, 59-56, after three quarters, but the host Cougars scored 13-straight points to take a 10-point lead that they would not relinquish, sending the Trojans to a 78-70 loss on Saturday afternoon at Mount Vernon.
TU built up eight-point leads on two separate occasions in the second quarter, as Cassidy Wyse’s and-one put the Trojans ahead, 30-22, with 6:23 to go, before MVNU pulled to within three on a bucket at the 3:15 mark. Josie Cobb converted a two-pointer and a trey on back-to-back possessions to extend the lead back up to eight, 41-33, with 2:19 left, but the Cougars closed the first half with back-to-back three-pointers to make it a 41-39 Taylor lead at the intermission.
In the third period, Mount Vernon (7-3, 2-1 CL) cut the lead to a single-possession game on multiple occasions, but Taylor responded each time. After a triple by the Cougars at the 5:56 mark to pull MVNU to within two, 50-48, Kendall Bradbury knocked down a three-pointer of her own to extend the lead back to five. Back-to-back buckets by the hosts made it 53-52, in favor of TU with 2:59 to go, but Wyse converted a deuce plus the foul shot to make it a four-point Trojan lead on the ensuing possession. The Cougars once again cut it to two, before Lacey Garrett’s hoop-and-harm on a reverse layup with 1:53 to go made it a 59-54 TU lead.
Taylor entered the fourth quarter with a 59-56 lead, but the Trojans hit an offensive cold spell, missing their first eight shots of the final period, while Mount Vernon scored the first 13 points of the quarter to take a 69-59 lead with 5:30 remaining in the contest. Bradbury broke the drought with a bucket and two free throws on consecutive possessions to bring the Purple and Gold to within six with 4:32 to go. Both squads traded buckets until Bradbury’s triple with 37 seconds left made it a 74-70 game. TU’s final three possessions ended in turnovers, however, and MVNU added four points to make the 78-70 final score.
The Trojans held a significant rebounding advantage, 48-33, over Mount Vernon, but the Cougars outshot TU from the floor, 42.3 percent-to-32.8 percent, and from behind the three-point line, 39.1 percent-to-18.2 percent. Additionally, the hosts outscored Taylor, 20-4, off turnovers and 32-5 in bench scoring, while posting a 21-8 turnover margin over the Trojans on the afternoon.
Three Trojans notched double-doubles in the loss, led by Bradbury’s 29 points and 16 rebounds, Cobb’s first-career double-double of 13 points and 13 rebounds and Wyse’s 12 points and 10 rebounds. Bradbury’s scoring output moved her into eighth place on the TU all-time scoring list with 1,511 career points, passing Jennifer Bottom’s 1,507 points from 1991 to 1995.
RV Taylor (6-5, 2-1 CL) will be back in action on Wednesday at 7:00 pm, as it hosts No. 17 Saint Francis (7-3, 2-1 CL) inside Odle Arena.
