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Lady Barons' season ends in NAIA tournament

Brewton-Parker College's record-setting women's basketball season came to an end Thursday in the first round of the NAIA Women's Basketball Tournament with a 93-74 loss to Azusa Pacific University (Calif.) at Oman Arena in Jackson, Tenn.

The Lady Barons (32-4) had an early 8-4 lead but watched that advantage disappear when Azusa Pacific scored 16 unanswered points and built a 26-12 lead, largely in part to many second-chance opportunities and turnovers.

The Lady Cougars amassed a 31-13 rebounding advantage by halftime, with 13 offensive rebounds, and forced 15 Brewton-Parker turnovers in the first half.

"We gave up some easy transition buckets early and that really surprised us," said Lady Barons coach Sheila Simmons, whose team committed 27turnovers overall. "We just weren't patient against their zone. We also did a poor job of boxing out inside."

Brewton-Parker cut the margin to 29-24, but the Lady Cougars, behind senior forward Kelsey Hudson's 20 points and eight rebounds in the first half, built a 16 point lead before taking a 48-34 advantage into the locker room at halftime.

Two Lady Baron guards, Ashley Little of Lawrenceville and Dannisha Winfrey of Paterson, N.J., were in double figures by halftime, with 11 and 10 points, respectively, but also were in foul trouble. Little and junior guard Trivia Richardson of Dublin both had three fouls apiece by halftime and Winfrey had two.

By the time Brewton-Parker whittled the deficit to 70-64 with 7:46 remaining, Richardson was already lost to fouls and Winfrey had her fourth. She fouled out two minutes later, and the Lady Cougars finished the game with a 17-5 run.

"With both point guards fouling out, you can't make a round when you are in that situation," said Simmons, whose team made 44.4 percent (16-for-36) of its second-half shots and was 40.6 percent (28-for-69) accurate for the game.

Little paced the Lady Barons with 18 points, including three 3-pointers, before she fouled out late. Winfrey added 16 points and had a game-high six assists and was one of four players with four steals in the game. Richardson scored 11 and senior guard Mona Ellis of St. Louis, Mo., added 10 in her Brewton-Parker finale.

"With our best record ever, we have a lot to be thankful for," Simmons said. "We just had a great season and a good job by our two seniors (Ellis and forward Crystal McNeil of Pensacola, Fla.). I appreciate all their hard work. The ball just didn’t bounce our way tonight."

Azusa Pacific (24-10) advanced to the second round by hitting 55.6 percent (15-for-27) from the floor in the second half and shot 50.8 percent (32-for-63) for the game.

Hudson finished with a tournament-high 30 points, as she was 9-for-16 from the floor and 12-for-15 from the free throw line. Hudson also added a game-high 11 rebounds. 

Junior forward Lindsey West added 17 points, as she shot 7-for-9 from the floor and grabbed eight rebounds. Sophomore guard Alyssa Ferdaszewski added 14 points and nine rebounds, while senior forward Lindsay Rice added 10 points and seven rebounds.

-BPC-