Bruins unable to keep pace with Evangels in Coke Classic

POINT LOOKOUT, Mo. -- Faith Ross scored a team-high 22 points but the (RV) Bellevue University women's basketball team fell to NAIA Division I (RV) Mid-America Christian University by a score of 83-63 on Friday evening at Keeter Gymnasium on the first day of the C of O Coke Classic.

Records:

(RV) Bellevue: 7-2
(D1-RV) MACU: 4-0

Recap: Mid-America Christian 83, Bellevue 63

Faith Ross scored nine first quarter points on the strength of 3-of-4 shooting from deep  but the Bruins were just 5-of-17 (29.4 percent) as a team in the opening period and found themselves trailing MACU 18-15 after one 10 minutes.

Despite foul trouble for their post players, including leading scorer Elexis Martinez picking up her third personal foul with 8:15 left in the second quarter, Bellevue hung around and went into halftime trailing by just eight points, 42-34.

Ross led the Bruins with 12 at the break and Angeliece Tucker tossed in 11 points in the first 20 minutes.

The Evangels' Alexis Shannon led all scorers with 14 in the half and Shaylan Coleman added eight for MACU.

Mid-America Christian out-shot BU 43.6-36.7 percent in the first half but the Bruins made up for it by knocking down 8-of-18 (44.4 percent) of their three-point tries while the Evangels were just 3-of-13 (23.1 percent) from long range.

MACU grabbed their first double-digit lead of the game on a basket from Shannon early in the third quarter as they out-scored the Bruins 19-12 to take a 61-46 lead into the final period.

Bellevue cut the deficit to nine, 65-56, on a layup from Laura Jurek with 7:26 to play but could get no closer. The Evangels ripped off six-straight points to grab a 15-point lead and held on from there for the 20-point win.

The Bruins cooled off offensively in the second half, connecting on just 3-of-14 (21.4 percent) of their three-point attempts after halftime while the Evangels shot at an identical clip from the floor and upped their three-point shooting to pull away.

Ross finished with a team-best 22 points and Tucker, BU's only other double figure scorer, was held without a point in the second half.

Martinez added eight points and Jamie Winkler pulled down a team-high six rebounds as Bellevue lost the battle of the boards, 49-39.

Shannon scored a game-high 25 points en route to a double-double, adding 10 rebounds, to lead Mid-America Christian. She was joined in double figures by Coleman and Darby Price with 18 and 12 points, respectively. Both Coleman and Price were close to double-doubles as Coleman totaled eight boards and Price collected seven caroms.

Up Next:

Bellevue is back in action tomorrow afternoon as they wrap up play at the C of O Coke Classic against host College of the Ozarks. Tip-off is scheduled for 3 p.m.