BRIDGEWATER, VA.- Looking to exact some revenge for their loss to the Eagles in November, the Randolph women's basketball traveled to Bridgewater on Wednesday to face BC again. Bridgewater got out to 20-point lead late in the third while the WildCats came roaring back to get to within a point but a last second shot fell short at the buzzer as the Eagles walked away with a 62-61 victory.
In the ODAC standings, Bridgewater (16-5) moves ahead of Randolph (17-6) into fourth place with a 11-4 conference record. The WildCats slip to fifth place with a 11-5 mark.
"Tough outcome this evening," said head coach Steve Lanpher. Disappointed in the loss but extremely proud of our heart and effort we showed as a team. In the 3rd quarter, we got down to 20 but trimmed it to nine points heading into the 4th. We could have quit but we didn't… we stuck together and started moving the ball offensively and put several stops together which allowed us to have a chance to win."
Teniyah Crenshaw-Patterson (Newport News, Va./Heritage) got it going for the WildCats in the first quarter with a three-point basket 40 seconds into the game. The Eagles then got ahead with a 10-2 run to lead 10-5 at the 5:08 mark. A three-pointer by Cameron O'Neil (Gloucester, Va./Gloucester) and a pair of free throws by Kylie Stark (Lynchburg, Va./Brookville) tied the game at 10-10. BC would go on an 8-2 run to go up 18-12 at the conclusion of the period.
Bridgewater added to its lead as it went ahead 26-15 with under six minutes to play in the second quarter. The WildCats could only get as close as eight points as the Eagles outscored Randolph 6-2 in the final two minutes to go ahead 38-26 at the break.
Crenshaw-Patterson started the scoring in the third quarter as her jumper 20 seconds in made it a 38-28 contest. Bridgewater's 11-2 run, however, pushed its advantage to 19 points, 49-30, with 5:39 left in the period. The Eagle lead was 56-36 with 2:10 left and Bridgewater looked like it was running away with the game. The WildCats did not quit as their 11-0 run, aided by three consecutive three-point baskets by Crenshaw-Patterson and Natalie Clark (Chesapeake, Va./Indian River), cut the Eagle lead to nine points, 56-47, going into the final quarter of play.
In the fourth quarter, the WildCats continued to reduce their deficit as they got it down to five points at 7:40. Randolph eventually got to within three points of tying following a trey by O'Neil with 5:34 remaining. The WildCat defense shut down the Eagles as Bridgewater was 0-for-4 from the field in the final 3:15 and also missed two free throws.
The score remained 62-58 in Bridgewater's favor for just over three minutes of game time. Crenshaw-Patterson broke the scoring drought as she drained a three-point basket with 38 seconds remaining to draw the 'Cats to within one point. Following a timeout, the Eagles drove down and missed a jumper as time wound down. Abbie Baker (Salem, Va./Patrick Henry) picked up the rebound and passed to Yanessa Cabrera (Manassas, Va./Stonewall Jackson) who went down to the basket and attempted a layup with time expiring but it would be blocked by Bridgewater's Riley Corcoran and go out of bounds as the horn sounded to end the game.
"We had a big time stop at the end and with seven seconds to go, we pushed it up court, got a shot off and the shot just didn't fall, said Lanpher. "I thought we were a little over aggressive defensively in the first half with too many fouls and they were able to capitalize by making free throws and I thought we gave them too many 2nd chance opportunities as well which allowed them to have a 12 point lead at half. Natalie (three 3's) & Brooklyn (great defensive effort along with 2 pts & 3 rebounds, really came off the bench in the 2nd half and provides us with great efforts."
It was a tale of two halves for both teams. Randolph shot 28.6% in the first half but was 54.5% shooting in the second including going 6-for-9 (66.7%) in the third quarter alone. The WildCats were 9-of-19 (47.4%) overall in three-point shots. The team also performed well from the charity strip with a 12-of-14 (85.7%) performance. Bridgewater was one fire in the first half going a collective 14-of-22 (63.6%). The Eagles cooled in the second and were just a paltry 2-of-14 (14.3%) in the fourth period alone. BC was just 3-of-14 (21.4%) behind the three-point arc. Randolph edged out Bridgewater in the rebounding battle 31-30.
Crenshaw-Patterson finished with 11 points on 4-of-8 shooting, grabbing six rebounds and dished out three assists. Clark scored nine points Cabrera added eight points and four assists. O'Neil also had eight points. Baker pulled down a team-high seven rebounds and scored six points.
Randolph travels to Randolph-Macon this coming Saturday. Game time from Ashland is at 4:30 p.m.