Women's Basketball Moves to Semis, Trounces Brescia

Box Score | Season Stats | Tournament Bracket

WILMORE, Ky. – It’s wasn’t the prettiest game ever played but Asbury women’s basketball advanced with a convincing 95-82 win over Brescia in the Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament quarterfinals on Saturday in the Luce Center.  There were 61 fouls called and 72 free throw attempts.

Early on no one could find the basket as both teams combined to miss the first 12 shots of the game before Brescia’s Olivia Moore scored nearly three minutes into the game.  After that the teams got rolling, mainly from the free throw line.  Asbury finished 27-of-42 from the charity stripe with Trenia Barbee making 10-of-14.  Brescia finished 20-of-30.  The 61 fouls called are tied for the second most in NAIA II women’s basketball this year.

After Brescia (15-15) tied the game at 5-5, the Eagles launched a 9-0 run that set the tempo for the rest of the game.  The Eagles (22-9) forced 16 Lady Bearcats turnovers including three during that stretch.  Asbury pushed the lead to double digits for the first time with 13:19 left in the first half on a basket by Barbee that made the game 18-7.

Brescia never got the lead under 10 again the rest of the game.  The halftime lead was 25 as the Eagles led 57-32. 

Barbee led all scorers with 32 points, her third straight game over 30 and fifth of the season.  She was 10-of-18 from the field on Saturday and also grabbed a team-high nine rebounds.  Laura Carroll added 20 points and Kylee Gorby scored 11 off the bench.  Brescia was led by Julie Whitfill’s 23 points.

The Eagles dominated on the glass, pulling down 49 rebounds, 20 of which were offensive.  Brescia hauled in just 35 rebounds.  Asbury scored 23 second-chance points while Brescia had just 13.  The Eagles also used those 16 forced turnovers to lead to 18 fast break points while the Lady Bearcats mustered just two.

Asbury advances to the KIAC Tournament semifinals which will be held at Indiana Southeast on Monday at 4 pm.  The Eagles will meet Alice Lloyd who defeated Midway 76-69 on Saturday.  The other semifinal pits top-ranked Point Park against IUS at 8 pm.  IU Southeast pulled off the only upset so far in the tournament, beating fourth-seeded Berea 55-52.  The championship game will be at IUS on Tuesday at 8 pm.

Asbury has advanced to the semifinals for the second straight year and for the sixth time in the last seven years.  They only win in the semis came last year against Brescia.  The Eagles lost the KIAC Tournament championship to IUS last season.

Alice Lloyd and Asbury split their two meetings with each team winning at home.  The Eagles won 82-72 in the Luce on Jan. 24 while ALC won 77-66 at home on Feb. 7.

Monday’s game will have live stats which can be found here as well as live video here.  Live tweets will also be available through the athletics department official twitter account, @Asbury_Eagles.