Lady Barons rebound from homecoming loss with road win, move up to No. 24

MOUNT VERNON -- After turning in a stellar defensive open-court effort but getting out-rebounded badly Saturday, the Brewton-Parker College Lady Barons needed a boost when they returned to basketball action Monday night.

The Lady Barons thus out-boarded Southern Polytechnic State University and forced 41 turnovers to score a 93-63 Georgia-Alabama-Carolina Conference triumph at Marietta, ending a run of three games in five days in which BPC won two, both on the road.

The win pushed Brewton-Parker (20-5 overall, 9-3 GACC) into the 20-win column for the fourth straight year and also marks the fourth time in as many seasons Lady Barons first-year coach Sheila Simmons reached the plateau after doing so in all three of her years at Brevard College (N.C.).

More importantly in Simmons' eyes was how the Lady Barons bounced back from their 63-57 loss to Auburn University Montgomery on Saturday in a match-up of NAIA Division I ranked Teams (AUM 12th and BPC 25th, its first rating of the season) during Brewton-Parker homecoming festivities at the Student Activities Center.

"We were positive and upbeat going in," said Simmons, whose team earned a No. 24 ranking this week. "We knew we had a poor shooting game (against AUM) and we didn't rebound or box out well, and even if we had done that would could've overcoming the poor shooting."

Against Southern Poly (3-21, 0-9), Brewton-Parker had a 34-30 edge in rebounding, what Simmons thought was just the second time the Lady Barons had a rebounding advantage this season, and stymied the Lady Hornets with 22 steals to offset 21 turnovers of their own.

Sophomore guard Ashley Little of Lawrenceville led Brewton-Parker's offensive attack with 21 points, hitting 8 of 15 shots from the floor, while sophomore guard-forward Tamika Drinks of Mount Vernon had a double-double (her eighth) of 15 points and a team-high 10 rebounds and also had eight steals.

Sophomore guard Dannisha Winfrey of Paterson, N.J., followed with 12 points and led the team with five assists, while senior guard Melody Walker of Statesboro added 11 points. Southern Poly senior forward Shirley Adrien led all scorers with 23 points.

"I thought our transition game was really good, as well as our traps and presses," Simmons said. "Defensively we played hard and pushed the ball well in transition."

Against AUM, the Lady Barons committed just eight turnovers while they forced 23 by the Lady Senators (now 17-5, 10-0), but they were out-rebounded 41-16 and were just 37 percent (23 percent in the first half) accurate from the floor while the visitors shot 56 percent.

Still, despite the shooting and rebounding disadvantages, the Lady Barons cut a 30-18 halftime deficit to three in the final minute.

"We had wide open opportunities, and they played behind us in the post. They gave us every opportunity, but we didn't capitalize," Simmons said.

Senior guard-forward Toya Rogers and Winfrey shared game-high scoring honors with 15 points apiece, and Winfrey had four steals. Little added 10 points and Drinks had a team-high six rebounds.

The Lady Barons began the three-games-in-five-days run with a 77-71 win over Southern Wesleyan University in Central, S.C., on Thursday, Feb. 5.

Brewton-Parker led 35-24 at halftime and held off the Lady Warriors down the stretch with a 15-for-18 performance at the free-throw line in the second half (18-for-24 overall).

"The big thing was the free throws, after they tried to foul us and get back in it," said Simmons.

Rogers was 9-for-10 at the line and finished with a team-high 21 points and also grabbed a game-high 17 rebounds for her fifth double-double. Walker was 4-for-10 from 3-point range in scoring 18 points, while Little hit three treys in scoring 10 and shared team assist honors with sophomore guard Trivia Richardson with five each.

"Toya stepped up big with her performance, and Melody as well," Simmons said.

Southern Wesleyan junior center Katrina Hegeman, who was the GACC's Player of the Week the previous week, continued her hot streak with a game-high 24 points and team-best 14 rebounds.

The Lady Barons play Emmanuel College in another GACC game Wednesday night at 6 at the Student Activities Center. The game date was changed from Thursday after Brewton-Parker was awarded the Georgia High School Association's Region 3-AA Tournament this weekend.

-BPC-
 

Brewton-Parker College senior guard-forward Toya Rogers (No. 13) of Vidalia slides past Auburn University Montgomery defenders Freda Cherry (44) and Jessica Weathers (12) in first-half action of the Georgia-Alabama-Carolina Conference game that matched two NAIA Division I nationally ranked teams Saturday, Feb. 7. The No. 12 Lady Senators spoiled the 25th-ranked Lady Barons' homecoming, winning 63-57 at the Student Activities Center on the Brewton-Parker campus in Mount Vernon. (Photo by Josh Niswonger)