Doane battles back for 81-77 win over Bruins

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BELLEVUE, Neb. -- Doane University battled back from a 14-point first-half deficit to record an 81-77 victory over Bellevue Univesity in the Bruins' opening game of the Fairfield Inn by Marriott Classic being played Thursday night at the Gordon Lozier Athletic Center. 

With the loss, the Bruins dropped to 6-7 on the season. Doane improved to 8-5 overall. 

Taylor Dement led the Bruins with a career-high 16 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the field. She added four steals and a pair of rebounds. 

Laura Jurek added 13 points, nine rebounds, and eight assists in the loss. Faith Ross finished with 12 points, four rebounds, two blocks. 

Miranda Hennings contributed with nine points and six rebounds. 

Mak Hatcliff led the Tigers with 20 points and 11 rebounds. Megan Chambers also scored 20 points for DU while adding seven boards. Macy Holtz finished with 16 points, six boards, two assists, and a pair of steals.  

After the Bruins hit eight of their first 10 shots to build an early 17-10 advantage in the first four and a half minutes of the contest, the Tigers rebounded with six-straight points to slice the deficit to a single point at 17-16 at the 4:23 mark of the first. 

BU hit 12-of-13 layups in the opening quarter and scored 12 points off DU turnovers to take a 34-23 first-quarter lead, capped by a 3-pointer by Miranda Hennings at the buzzer. BU shot 71.4 percent in the opening 10 minutes of play. 

After a 3-pointer by Ross expanded the BU lead to 14 points, the Tigers countered with eight consecutive points to pull DU to within single digits at 41-35 with five minutes left in the half. The two teams traded points for the remainder of the half as the Bruins took a 51-44 lead into the intermission. 

Ross led BU in the first half with 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting from the field. Hennings added nine points and five assists.

The Bruins cooled off in the second quarter but still shot 56.4 percent from the field in the opening half and 41.7 percent from long range. 

Doane was led in the first half by Hatcliff's 12 points and six rebounds. Chambers added 10 points on 4-of-4 shooting from the field and a 2-of-2 effort from the charity stripe. The Tigers were also hot in the first half, shooting 53.6 percent from the field. However, DU was just 1-of-6 from behind the arc. 

Jurek's layup to open the second half gave BU a nine-point cushion before DU battled back with seven-straight points to pull to within two points, taking advantage of a 3:38 BU scoring drought.  

The Tigers hit 6-of-8 field goals to end the third, finishing on a 9-0 run to take a 66-62 lead heading into the final frame.  

Doane maintained a four-point lead until buckets by Jurek and Ross tied the contest at 71-all with 3:42 left in the game.  

BU took its first lead of the fourth stanza on a layup by Scott to give the Bruins a 77-75 advantage at the 1:19 mark. 

Two free throws by Rylee Rice gave Doane a 78-77 edge with 34 seconds remaining. 

A free throw by Holtz made it a two-point contest (79-77) with 12 seconds left in regulation. 

A missed 3-pointer by Hennings and two more free shots by Rice gave DU a four-point cushion and the victory at 81-77. 

The Bruins will conclude the tournament tomorrow (Dec. 30) with a 4:30 p.m. matchup against Iowa Wesleyan.