By Mike DeVader, Reinhardt Director of Athletic Communications & Media
WALESKA, Ga. – The Toby Wagoner era of women's basketball at Reinhardt got off to an impressive start at home on Wednesday night against Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) foe Point (Ga.), as the Eagles smothered the Skyhawks, 69-46, inside the Brown Athletic Center.
The hometown team (1-0, 1-0 AAC) held Point to 32 percent shooting (16-for-50), including allowing its visitors to hit just two treys in 14 attempts.
The Skyhawks also committed 24 turnovers and were outrebounded, 40-30.
"Really happy and excited for the ladies… Can't lie, I was nervous before the game and didn't really know what to expect from a basketball standpoint," Wagoner said. "I was confident that we would come out and play hard because they do that every day, but from there, it was going to be a wait-and-see moment. We have a lot of respect for Coach Wooley and his team – that is a successful program that is well-coached and prepared for AAC play. It's tough to start the season with a conference opponent but I was proud of our defensive effort tonight. Game one is always a wild card offensively and you just hope the defense is good enough to give our team the opportunity to compete for the win.
It is certainly a nice team win and we are really proud of the team. Back to the grind tomorrow and working to improve each day."
A trio of Eagles finished in double figures – Bethany Headrick (19), Ashton Sutton (14) and Catherine Shope (11 off the bench) – as Reinhardt used a 20-8 second quarter to take complete control of the game and never look back.
Both clubs would fight back-and-forth in the opening period, but the aforementioned dominant quarter spring-boarded Wagoner's bunch to a 39-23 lead at halftime. The Eagles would then come out of the locker room and win both of the following stanzas, not letting Point gain any traction trying to chip away at the deficit.
Headrick (two steals) also paced the effort on the glass with a team-high nine boards, while an additional six players had three-plus rebounds on the night.
Collectively, Reinhardt accumulated 16 assists on the offensive end – led by Sutton's four dimes. She also added four boards and three steals, out of 11 total, in the win.
Seven student-athletes netted four-or-more tallies, while a total of eight got in the scorebook.
The Eagles shot 42.6 percent for the game and hit seven shots from beyond the arc.
The team looks to make it two in-a-row, both overall and in the league, as it hosts Bluefield (Va.) on Saturday at 2 p.m.
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