The Oglethorpe women's basketball team fell to Millsaps 64-57 Friday evening at Dorough Field House. The loss drops the team to 4-14 on the season, 2-5 in SAA play.
The defeat came despite a valiant effort from sophomore forward Ali Bleckley, who scored 19 points on 7-of-14 shooting and 5-of-10 three-point shooting while grabbing eight rebounds and two steals. Sophomore guard Emily Buck added 16 points on 7-of-14 shooting and three steals while sophomore guard Ciara Hughes had another double-double, scoring 11 points and snagging 10 rebounds to go with two steals of her own.
The Stormy Petrels started the game well, going on a 7-2 run early to take a 5-point advantage at the 16:36 mark of the first half. However, that was followed up by an 8-2 run from the visiting Majors, who took a 10-9 lead with 11:21 left in the half. After a couple of Stormy Petrel baskets, Millsaps expanded upon their run, rolling off a 10-2 spurt to take a 20-14 lead with 7:50 left in the half. The Petrels pulled the deficit back to one quickly with a couple of baskets, but the Majors pushed it back out to six just as quickly before taking a 32-28 halftime lead. The Petrels actually outshot Millsaps in the first half, 39-to-38 percent. That would not be the case in the second half, though.
The period started well, as the home side took the lead on back-to-back 3-pointers, one from Buck and the other from Bleckley. They led 34-32 with 18:18 remaining in the game. It was the Petrels' last lead of the contest. Millsaps immediately began the spurt which put the game away, embarking on a 20-7 run over the next 14 minutes. When it was over, they led 52-41 with 4:21 remaining. The Petrels got it as close as six with 51 seconds left, but could get no closer, and the Majors came away with the seven-point victory. While the Petrels shot similarly in both halves, converting at a 38 percent rate in the second, Millsaps upped their shooting percentage to 46 percent for the second half, which proved to be the difference in the game.
Overall, Millsaps shot 41 percent to Oglethorpe's 38, and shot 36 percent from 3-point range to the Petrels' 26 percent. The Petrels held their own in the paint, tying the Majors with 28 points in the paint and outscoring them 20-9 in second-chance points, but could not hit enough shots in the end.
The Petrels retain sixth place in the conference with the loss, and will welcome Birmingham-Southern into Dorough Field House Sunday at 1 p.m. The 8-10 Panthers have played well in-conference, going 4-3 in SAA play, good enough for fourth place in the league currently.