Lady Barons keep winning despite shooting struggles

Despite suffering through a continuous series of basketball games in which they have struggled offensively, the Brewton-Parker College Lady Barons won their eighth game in 11 tries Saturday with a 59-46 win over Southern Polytechnic State University.

The win at the Student Activities Center improves the Lady Barons (18-6 overall) to 7-3 in Georgia-Alabama-Carolina Conference play and within two games of first place after North Georgia College and State University handed Auburn University-Montgomery its first GACC loss Saturday.

The Lady Barons visit AUM (17-7, 9-1 entering the week) for a 7 p.m. game Thursday, a date that follows a Monday visit to Southern Wesleyan University in Central, S.C.

Saturday's win followed a 62-54 home victory Thursday over Shorter College and an 83-75 setback Feb. 3 to Georgia Southwestern State University in Americus.

The victory over Southern Polytech was one Brewton-Parker coach Tommy Dalley described as one in which the Lady Barons "played as bad as we could possibly play and still win by 13."

Southern Polytech (8-17, 2-8 after the loss) led 18-9 with 7:03 left in the first half before the Lady Barons finished the half with a 14-2 run and then began the second half with a 19-9 flurry to lead 42-29 midway through the half.

"We knew they weren't very good, and that didn't help our cause," Dalley said of the Lady Hornets, who made just 28 percent of their shots but still had the game's leading scorer and rebounder in senior Theais Edmonds with 18 points and 15 rebounds.

"We didn't stick to our game plan, which was to pound it inside, and 15 of our 29 shots in the first half were 3s."

Brewton-Parker finished the game by hitting just 31 percent from the floor but was 16-for-17 on second-half free throws.

However, the Lady Barons have continued to win because one player seemingly steps up and breaks through the shooting drought.

Senior guard Takara Solomon was 7-for-7 at the line and 5-for-8 from the field in scoring a team-high 17 points.

Senior forward Tameka Oliver made just two field goals but was 8-for-8 at the stripe on her way to scoring 12 points while grabbing a team-high 13 rebounds for her eighth double-double of the season.

Brewton-Parker College junior guard Melody Walker (No. 22) of Statesboro puts her guard up against Shorter College sophomore guard Holly Corder in first-half action of the Lady Barons' 62-54 win Thursday night over Shorter at the Student Activities Center on the Brewton-Parker campus in Mount Vernon. Other Lady Barons shown are freshman guard and former Montgomery County Lady Eagle Tamika Drinks (left) and senior forward Tameka Oliver (right). (Photo by Charles Conkin)