The Oglethorpe women's basketball team bounced back from their shooting slump in a big way Sunday afternoon at Dorough Field House, sinking over half their shots from the field in the first half en route to a 73-48 victory over the Sewanee Tigers. The win, coupled with a Rhodes victory over Millsaps in Memphis, Tennessee, moved the Stormy Petrels into a first-place tie with the Majors at 4-1 in SAA play. It also improved the Petrels to 13-3 on the season overall.
The Petrels quickly pushed into the lead to begin the game, then extended their advantage with a 12-0 run over three minutes. That gave them an 18-7 lead with 3:25 left in the first quarter. Sewanee cut that to seven, but the Petrels led by 11 after the first period, then embarked on an 18-3 stretch that lasted the majority of the second quarter and extended for over seven minutes. When the run was over, Oglethorpe had a commanding 44-20 lead with just over two minutes remaining until halftime.
The home side began the second half with a 10-2 run to push their lead all the way out to 31 points, 54-23. From there, they cruised to the victory, leading by as many as 33 points a couple times in the fourth quarter and coming away with a 25-point win.
The Petrels got solid performances from several players. Sophomore center Savannah LeGate scored 11 points on 4-of-8 from the field and 3-of-4 from the line while passing out three assists. Senior forward Lauren Ransom scored 10 points on 4-of-7 from the field and led the team with seven rebounds. Freshman guard Nikki Reed made both of her 3-point attempts and led all participants with six assists. Senior guard Brooke Simpson tied for the team lead with 11 points on 3-of-7 from 3-point range and sophomore forward Audrey Burdge recorded a game-high six blocks.
After cooling off a bit in the second half, the Petrels finished the game at 39.3 percent from the field and shot the same percentage from 3-point range. They made 11 three-point baskets after sinking just four combined over the previoustwo games. Oglethorpe outscored Sewanee 17-3 in second chance points and 20-10 in the paint.
"It was good to see the lid come off the basket a little bit for our shooters in the first half," said Oglethorpe head coach Alex Richey. "We know that we are capable of shooting it better than we have been but our calling card has been our defense and rebounding, so once we put it all together we are confident good things will happen."
The Petrels will hit the road for their next two games, traveling to Memphis, Tennessee, and Conway, Arkansas. They'll take on Rhodes at the former Friday at 7 p.m. EST, then go against Hendrix at the latter Sunday at 2 p.m.