MONTREAT, N.C.— The Montreat women's basketball team hosted the Bryan College Lions in an Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) affair Saturday afternoon. After falling behind by 25 points early in the matchup, the Cavs stormed back to within two, but failed to complete the outstanding comeback attempt. With a 73-69 result in favor of the visitors, the Cavaliers fell to a 16-9 (13-6 AAC) record for their 2023-24 campaign.
Bryan (20-5, 18-1 AAC) began the game with a tremendous effort on both ends of the court. The Lions initially led 8-2 before using 21 consecutive points to build a 24-2 advantage with 1:51 left in the first quarter. Montreat committed nine first-frame turnovers and made two of 10 shots, while BC converted turnovers into 12 points to go up 26-4 through one period.
Montreat stepped up defensively at the start of the second quarter. Though Bryan knocked down an early shot to lead by 25, the Cavaliers held the Lions off the scoreboard for the next 5:03 of the matchup. Five points from
Aebri Graham powered a 6-0 stretch that cut the deficit down to 18; however, another run from the visitors allowed BC to outscore the Cavs 15-13 in the frame and lead 41-17 at the half.
Graham led Montreat with her five points as the only Cavalier with multiple makes in the opening 20 minutes.
Madison Cole grabbed a team-best six rebounds, including four offensive boards. The Lions shot 50.0 percent overall (14-28 FG) and 41.7 percent from deep (5-12 3-pt FG), while the Cavs managed 26.9 percent from the field (7-26 FG) and just 12.5 percent from 3-point range (1-8 3-pt FG).
The third quarter featured a plethora of scoring from the Cavaliers, who outscored Bryan by 11 in the frame.
Virginia Edmondson propelled the home side to an 11-2 run thanks to five early points. Montreat then chipped away until the final buzzer, in large part due to the combination of Edmondson and
Rymiah Sanders.
Edmondson poured in her first 15 points during the third period, including a trio of triples that brought Montreat within 13 (53-40) with 10 minutes to go. The Cavaliers knocked down nine of their 15 looks (60.0 percent) in the 10-minute span to keep themselves in the contest heading into the last quarter.
In the fourth, the Cavs poured in their most points in a quarter (29) as the team continued to chip away at the gap. Montreat began the period on an 11-1 stretch that ebbed the Bryan lead down to a single possession (54-51) with 7:25 on the clock. Though BC hit its stride midway through the period, Sanders connected on five layups, including an and-one opportunity to pull the Cavaliers within only two (71-69) with 19 seconds left. Despite the wonderful effort, Montreat missed a shot to tie and the Lions held on.
Edmondson scored all of her game-high 25 points in the second half, while Sanders used her 11-point final frame to tally 18 points. Cole ended with a career-best 13 of the team's 36 rebounds. Overall, the Cavs rebounded to shoot a better percentage (44.6 percent; 25-56 FG) than their counterparts (44.4 percent; 24-54 FG) and ended with a better number from beyond the arc (41.2 percent; 7-17 3-pt FG) than Bryan (33.3 percent; 7-21 3-pt FG).
Women's basketball remains at home for its senior day competition on Wednesday. Tipoff against Milligan University in Montreat, N.C. is set for 5:30 p.m.
