LYNCHBURG, Va. – Junior Holly Morgan led five Eagles in double figures with 16 points as the Bridgewater College (14-7, 10-6 ODAC) women's basketball team used a 46% effort from the floor to take down a scrappy Randolph WildCats squad by a 77-66 score on Thursday evening.
Randolph (3-18, 0-16 ODAC) owned a three-point lead early when a Lauren French trey found the bottom of the net, before Bridgewater responded with a quick run, capped off by a Morgan trey, to take a 13-11 lead with under 14 to play in the first.
The WildCats regained the lead on another French trey before extending their advantage to 16-13 with 11:12 left in the opening frame.
Out of a Randolph timeout, turnovers woes plagued the Eagles and turned into back-to-back scores for the WildCats as Bridgewater found itself in a 20-13 hole midway through the first half.
Morgan ended the 9-0 Randolph spurt with an easy layup and a kiss-off-the-glass jumper to chip the WildCats lead to a slim three points at a 20-17 margin.
Randolph extended its lead to as high as six, forcing a Bridgewater timeout, before Morgan and Katelynn Hottinger answered with jumper each to chip things to a one-possession game.
With under four to play in the opening stanza, Jenny Logan sliced through the lane and hit the layup and converted a free throw attempt following a Randolph foul to give the Eagles their first lead since the early minutes of the game at a 27-26 tally.
Over the final minutes of the first, Bridgewater stifled the WildCats on the offensive end and outscored the hosts by an 8-1 margin to take a 35-27 lead into the intermission.
Morgan paced the Eagles with nine first-half points as the Eagles shot at a blistering 53.6% (15-of-28) clip from the floor.
Out of the halftime break, the two teams traded scores, before the WildCats used a small run to cut the Bridgewater lead to one at a 41-40 tally with 15:23 to play, forcing an Eagles timeout.
Following the timeout, the Eagles responded with a Taylor layup before the WildCats drilled a three at the other end to knot the game up at 43 each with under 14 to play.
Randolph regained the lead on a pair of free throws but the Eagles immediately tied the game back up on a Kelsie Floyd jumper in the lane to bring the score to 45-45.
Bridgewater regained the lead on a Hottinger jumper in the paint and held a 52-48 lead with under 10 left after the Linville, Va. native hit the front end of a pair of free throws.
The Eagles then used a 13-4 run to push their lead to a game-high 13 points at a 65-52 score with 6:58 remaining.
Down the stretch, both teams traded scores with the WildCats chipping the Bridgewater lead to under 10 with less than four minutes left but the Eagles scored 10 of the final 17 points to leave the RAD Center with a 77-66 victory.
Morgan's 16 points paced a balanced scoring attack for the Eagles. Taylor knocked in 15 points to help pace the team, while Floyd knocked in a career-high 12 points in the win. Logan tallied 13 points, while freshman Shannan Thorne scored 11 to round out the Eagles in double figures.
On the glass, Thorne pulled down 10 rebounds to record the double-double as the Eagles outrebounded the host WildCats by a 41-to-35 margin. Morgan also pulled down nine rebounds to just miss the double-double.
Randolph was led offensively by a Brianna Lowry's 14-point effort.
Bridgewater is back in action on Saturday when it travels to Randolph-Macon. Action from Crenshaw Gym is set for a 1:00 p.m. start.