Lady Barons fuel pair of wins with defense

MOUNT VERNON -- The Brewton-Parker College women's basketball team used its defensive success to score two victories last week at the Student Activities Center as the Georgia-Alabama-Carolina Conference schedule nears its halfway point.

The Lady Barons complemented their forcing 23 turnovers by also shooting well in defeating Shorter College 76-61 on Thursday, Jan. 29, and forced 37 turnovers to overcome poor shooting in taking a 73-40 win over Southern Polytechnic State University on Saturday, Jan. 31.

"Overall I am pretty pleased," Lady Barons coach Sheila Simmons said of her team's 5-2 conference run (18-4 overall) thus far. "Defense has been our bread and butter, and we have to keep working on executing offensively."

The Lady Barons' defensive success against Shorter (11-11, 4-4 after a Saturday win over Emmanuel College, BPC's next opponent Thursday) translated into 47.2 percent shooting that included a 13-for-24 (54.2 percent) performance from 3-point range.

Senior guard Melody Walker of Statesboro had the hot hand from the arc, hitting 5 of 7 treys (7-for-11 overall) en route to scoring a game-high 19 points.

"Melody came out on fire and had a great game," Simmons said. "Defensively, we kept the pressure on their guards well enough to force a lot of turnovers and get more opportunities offensively."

Sophomore guard Dannisha Winfrey of Paterson, N.J., followed Walker with 15 points and sophomore guard Tamika Drinks of Mount Vernon added 12 with a team-leading three steals. Senior guard Toya Rogers of Vidalia had game highs of 13 rebounds and four blocked shots.

The Lady Barons' offense was dormant for the first 5:35 against Southern Poly, but fortunately so was the Lady Hornets' attack as they led only 5-0 when Brewton-Parker sophomore guard Tori Williams of Valdosta finally got her team on the board with 14:25 remaining.

Williams' score ignited a 19-2 Brewton-Parker run, and the Lady Barons led 32-23 at half after hitting just 10 of 33 shots.

As the second half neared its midway point with Brewton-Parker ahead by about 20, a bump-and-run incident turned into a fracas during which Simmons said a Lady Hornets player put her hands on Winfrey's neck and was worsened when a Southern Poly player in street clothes left the bench to join the brouhaha.

Several minutes of sorting out the incident resulted in a bench technical on Southern Poly and some ejections, and the Lady Barons finished the game by forcing 19 steals to offset 33 percent shooting.

Senior guard Trudie Ridley of Richmond Hill led the Lady Barons' steal assault with four thefts.

Drinks had a team-best seven rebounds and hit 10 of 11 free-throw attempts in scoring 12 points -- a team-high figure she shared with Winfrey, who also had four assists and three steals.

"Tamika struggled with her shooting but made up for it at the free-throw line and on rebounds," Simmons said.

Rogers followed in scoring with 11 and grabbed five boards, while sophomore guard Trivia Richardson of Dublin and junior forward Crystal McNeil (4-for-4 from the floor) had nine points and five rebounds apiece.

"Trivia really stepped up her game and opened up things with her penetrations," Simmons said.

The Lady Barons travel to Central, S.C., on Thursday to play Southern Wesleyan (6-12, 2-5) at 6 p.m., a game that will complete both teams' first run through the GACC schedule.

Brewton-Parker begins its second turn through the conference slate with its homecoming game Saturday at 2 p.m. against GACC co-leader Auburn University Montgomery (Ala.).

The Lady Senators (14-5, 7-0), ranked No. 14 in the NAIA Division I ratings last week, enter their Thursday contest at home against North Georgia College and State University tied for the lead with the No. 7 Lady Saints (17-4, 7-0).

The Lady Barons then reciprocate Southern Poly's visit south with a trip to Marietta on Monday, Feb. 9, for a 5:30 p.m. contest.

-BPC-
 

Brewton-Parker College senior guard-forward Toya Rogers (No. 13) leaps to block a shot by Shorter College junior guard Holly Corder while Lady Baron sophomores Tamika Drinks (25), Dannisha Winfrey (34) and sophomore Ashley Little (3) prepare to retrieve the deflection during second-half action of the teams' Georgia-Alabama-Carolina Conference game played Thursday, Jan. 29, in the Student Activities Center on the Brewton-Parker campus in Mount Vernon. Rogers had four blocked shots in the Lady Barons' 76-61 win. (Photo by Charles Conkin)