BRIDGEWATER, Va. - In the regular season finale in Nininger Hall, the Bridgewater Eagles women's basketball team scored 56 points in the second half and erased a 14-point halftime deficit as the Eagles stormed back to defeat Hollins by a 76-72 tally on Saturday afternoon in Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) women's basketball action.
The victory for the Eagles secured the number seven seed for the upcoming ODAC tournament. Bridgewater earned the seventh seed due to its head-to-head win over Shenandoah. The Eagles will host Emory & Henry on Monday evening in Nininger Hall at 7 p.m.
Hollins scored the first three points in a slow moving first half as the Eagles struggled from the floor in allowing the visitors to run out to a 34-20 lead at the intermission. Bridgewater went scoreless from the floor over the first seven-plus minutes of the contest, with its lone points coming from the charity stripe on free throws from Molly Shelley and Heather Cantrell.
Over the opening 20 minutes, Hollins shot 43 percent (13-of-30) from the floor while limiting the Eagles to an 18 percent (6-of-32) effort from the field. Hollins ended the first half on a 17-4 run to take a 14-point lead into the locker room.
Both teams traded buckets to start the second half, with Hollins holding on to a 43-29 lead with 14:31 to play in the contest. Hollins ran its lead to 14 with under 15 minutes to play on a three-point play from Brandi Chesne before the Eagles took over down the stretch.
Jessica Lam pulled up from long-range and buried a deep two ball to cut the lead to a dozen before Holly Morgan knocked in the front end of a pair of free throws and Oshene Kelly followed with a layup to trim the deficit back to single digits, 43-34.
Following a Hollins free throw, Kelly answered with another layup before a Morgan jumper trimmed the Hollins lead back to five at a 45-40 margin with 11:03 to play.
Sophomore Ella Oakley responded with a pair of free throws to run the lead back to seven for the visitors before Bridgewater answered with another big run to knot the game up. Cassidy Burkholder knocked in the front end of a two-shot foul before Morgan drilled a trey to trim the margin to three, 49-46. Burkholder once again knocked in the front end of two free throws before freshman Jessica Lam converted a pair of shots from the charity stripe to knot the contest up at 51 points each with 8:53 remaining.
Hollins regained the lead, 53-51, on a pair of Jewell Parfitt free throws as both teams made numerous trips to the line in the second half. Cantrell drove the lane on the other end and was fouled before she converted the front end of a two-shot foul to trim the deficit back to a single point.
With 8:25 to play, Morgan knocked in two free throws to hand Bridgewater the lead before a Jessi Strom three put the Eagles up by four, 57-53, with seven and change remaining.
Bridgewater's (8-16, 6-10 ODAC) lead held at four points until a Kaitlyn Taylor layup was followed by an Oakley jumper in the paint to tie the contest back up, this time at 59 points each. Hollins took the lead back for the final time on a Taylor Catron layup with 4:57 left before Bridgewater took the lead back for good.
Lam converted two free throws and Morgan followed with a deep three to put Bridgewater up by thre at a 64-61 tally with under four to go. Oakley answered with a jumper to cut the Bridgewater lead back to one, but that was as close as the visitors would get.
Strom knocked in a trey to run the lead to four before a Burkholder layup put the Eagles out in front by six, 69-63, with 2:38 to play.
Chanci Wright and Cantrell traded scores to keep the Bridgewater lead at six with 34 ticks to play. Bridgewater pushed the ball to the front court and Hollins wasted precious seconds in fouling Burkholder. The sophomore followed by hitting the front end of a pair of free throws to run the lead to five before stealing the ball in the final seconds and being fouled again. Burkholder again hit one of two at the line to push the lead to six, 75-69.
Parfitt knocked in a trey in the waning seconds and Strom converted the back-end of a two-shot foul to secure a 76-72 come-from-behind victory over Hollins.
Morgan led all scorers in the game with 20 points, including 17 points in the second half. Burkholder chipped in 19 and Cantrell added 15 in the win. After shooting just 18.8 percent from the floor in the first half, the Eagles hit 17 of 33 shots in the second half to finish the game with a 35.4 percent effort from the field.
On the glass, Morgan led the way with eight rebounds while Cantrell added seven.
Hollins (7-18, 2-14 ODAC) was paced offensively by three players in double figures. Oakley posted a double-double effort with 16 points and 14 boards, while Parfitt added 16 points for the Hollins offense. Catron added 10 for the visitors in the loss. For the game, Hollins shot 52 percent (26-of-50) from the floor and connected on 13 of 20 shots in the second half for a 65 percent effort over the final 20 minutes.
The visitors controlled the boards, owning a 47-33 edge.Oakley's 14 rebounds led the way while Catron added seven in the loss.
Bridgewater's defense turned up the intensity in the second half and forced 26 Hollins turnovers on the afternoon, which turned into a 30-12 advantage in points off of turnovers.
The Eagles return to the hardwood on Monday for the first round of the 2014 ODAC Women's Basketball Tournament. Tip-off against Emory & Henry is set for 7 p.m.