Bruins fall on road at #8 Briar Cliff

SIOUX CITY, Iowa -- Briar Cliff University forced the 24 Bruin turnovers as the Chargers defeated the Bellevue University women's basketball team 88-66 on Thursday evening at the Newman Flanagan Center.

The Chargers continue their host start to the season, improving to 11-1 while the Bruins slip a game under .500, falling to 5-6.

The Bruins and Chargers traded jabs early before Briar Cliff rattled off a 10-2 run in 2:43 to jump ahead 15-7 at the 5:07 mark. Zakiyyah Muhammad stopped the momentum with her first bucket of the game but each two BU hit was answered by a BCU three as the lead grew to 24-13 after 10 minutes of play.

Bellevue trimmed the lead back to single digits when Zakiyyah Muhammad put back and offensive board with 4:38 remaining in the half. However, the Bruins scored just two points the rest of the quarter and the Chargers entered the break on a 13-2 run.

Payton Slaughter led Briar Cliff with 15 on 5-of-6 shooting, including a 4-of-5 effort from long-range, as the Chargers held a 20-point advantage at the intermission. Muhammad and Ashtyn Arnold had six apiece to lead the Bruins in the first half with Muhammad grabbing eight rebounds as well.

Bellevue struggled with Briar Cliff's full court trapping defense, turning the ball over 14 times in the first half on their way to 24 turnovers in the game. At the other end, Briar Cliff parlayed that defensive effort into a 22-9 advantage in points off turnovers, with BCU turning it over just 14 times on the night.

Briar Cliff seemingly carried some of that momentum over into the third quarter as they swelled their lead to 35 points, 67-32, on a bucket from Mallie McNair with 1:54 to play. Muhammad again stopped a BCU run by converting an old-fashioned three-point play at the 1:29 mark to key a spurt of five-straight Bruin points.

The fourth quarter saw Bellevue find some offensive rhythm and flow as they outscored their hosts 29-19 over the final 10 minutes.

Gabby Moore led the Bruins with 16 points, with 13 coming in the second half. She was joined in double figures by Muhammad, who posted a double-double with 11 points and 10 boards, and Arnold who totaled 10 points.

Slaughter totaled 17 points to lead four Chargers in double figures. Rachel Langel tossed in 12 while McNair and Grace Flanagan chipped in 11 points each.

Bellevue wraps up their four-game road swing on Saturday, Dec. 16 at local rival College of St. Mary with a 6 p.m. tip-off against the Flames.