Senior Cameron Sealy finished with a game-high 22 points leading Lenoir-Rhyne University to a 65-59 win over Anderson College in South Atlantic Conference women’s basketball at Shuford Gymnasium on Wednesday.
It’s the 10th time this year Sealy has scored in double figures and the third time she has surpassed 20 points.
Sealy scored 16 points in the second half, five of the Bears final seven points and was 3-for-4 from the free-throw line in the final 1:25 as Lenoir-Rhyne (10-2, 2-1 South Atlantic Conference) posted its third straight win, and seventh in the last eight games while Anderson (5-6, 2-1) suffered it third straight setback.
Sealy, held to six points in the first half on 3-of-10 shooting from the floor, came to life in the second half hitting 4-of-7 from the floor and 7-of-9 from the line.
It wasn’t necessarily a well-played game by either team.
Lenoir-Rhyne University shot 36.1 percent from the floor while Anderson shot 34.8 percent and the two teams combined for 22 turnovers.
Neither team seemed to be able to get into sync offensively.
“We don’t want to use not playing since Dec. 15 as an excuse but there is some truth to the fact that you get out of rhythm without playing games for that long,” said Lenoir-Rhyne head coach Todd Starkey. “I think we struggled to find any kind of rhythm tonight.”
With neither team able to maintain a lead with 14 lead changes, it looked like the Bears were finally making that run midway through the second half.
With 13:27 remaining, Jazmine Brinkley hit a 3-pointer to give the Bears a 43-42 lead.
Caroline Laughter capped the 13-2 run with a pair of free throws with 7:20 remaining to give Lenoir-Rhyne University a 53-44 lead.
Anderson refused to go away and fought back to cut the margin to three (58-55) on a layup by Tilde Ahlin and again at 60-57 with 51-seconds remaining.
The Bears withstood the Trojans late rally by hitting 5-of-6 from the free-throw line in the final 43-seconds to seal the win.
“We did what we needed to do – especially in the second half – to win the game,” said Starkey. “I was proud of how we finished the game and we found a way to win. That’s what’s it’s all about.”
Lenoir-Rhyne University was effective in keeping the lane blocked and forcing Anderson to connect with three pointers and took the Trojans’ pair of 6-foot-3 inch post players out of the game.
As a result Anderson was 5-of-32 (15.6 %) from three-point range while the duo of Jaclyn Moore and Ahlin combined for 16 points.
“They did a good job of shutting down our inside game and forcing us to hit the three,” said Anderson head coach Jim Brunelli. “We have to be able to adjust and find another way to score.”
The Bears face Carson-Newman on the road at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
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