Nashville, Tenn. - For the first game of the season, the SBU Women's Basketball team went up against the Kentucky Wesleyan Panthers Friday afternoon at a tournament held by Trevecca Nazarene. The Bearcats came up short and fell 75-66 at the end. This makes the Bearcats record 0-1 to start the season.
Early in the first quarter, the Bearcats came out strong and made the score 5-0. Despite holding the lead for a majority of the quarter, Kentucky Wesleyan took the lead late in the first quarter with the score at 20-16. Kyleigh Vaught hit a three a few minutes into the third to regain the lead, but the teams went back and forth for a majority of the second. Freshman Faith Gilkey made a a pair of free throws right before halftime to trail just 35-33. Right out of the break, Nyah Pettus made a layup to even the score at 35-35. The rest of the third was very even, KWC taking a one-point lead into the final frame. It all came down to the fourth quarter where the Panthers outscored the Bearcats 22-14 to make the final score 75-66.
The Bearcats were led in scoring by Mary Rose Foster with 15 points and Kyleigh Vaught with 14 points. Nyah Pettus had 7 points and tied with Foster for 6 rebounds. Emma Perry and Kelsey Blakemore each had 2 steals. As a team, SBU had 30 rebounds and 13 assists for the game, shooting 51.0% from the field.
The Bearcats will complete the opening tournament Saturday afternoon as they play against Trevecca Nazarene on November 13 at 2 PM.
