Headrick Hits 1,000-Point Mark as Women's Basketball Smothers Union

By Mike DeVader, Reinhardt Director of Athletic Communications & Media

Photo Courtesy of Greg Spell/G-RoxPhotos.com
 
WALESKA, Ga. – The Eagles improved to 18-2 on the year after avenging an earlier loss in the season to Union (Ky.), 64-57, Tuesday night inside the Brown Athletic Center in the first game at home in nearly a month.

No. 23 Reinhardt (15-2 Appalachian Athletic Conference) has claimed seven-consecutive positive outcomes, and did so on this evening against the Bulldogs with stellar defense and precision offense down the stretch.

The Eagles started slow out of the gate as their visitors got after them in the paint for an early lead. Neither team would really get anything going in the first quarter, but the game was sparked on the last play of the period – a 3-pointer by Amberlee Zeller that banked off the glass at the buzzer.

From there, the hometown team started to get in a better rhythm, all while continuing to play lock-down defense, but really hit its stride late in the first half when Bethany Headrick posted back-to-back buckets and went over 1,000 points in her Reinhardt career in the process.

From the 3:31 mark when Headrick made the personal mark (17-16), the Eagles ended the half on a 10-5 run to push their lead to 27-21 at the break.

The offense would rise to the occasion in the third period, and the defense wouldn't give an inch to Union on the other end of the court, either. Reinhardt would hit the 20-point mark in the stanza for the only time in the game to push its lead to 47-35, and it would find itself ahead by a contest-high 17 points in the fourth quarter on multiple occasions – most notably, 56-39, after a trey made by Symone Williams with 6:47 remaining.

The Bulldogs would regroup and give it one last effort over the next five minutes to get back within four tallies (58-54) after finding more success getting to the basket and scoring in the paint.

It would be too little, too late for Union after time ran out on its comeback attempt.

Headrick was one of four starters in double figures with 14 tallies and 10 rebounds. Ashton Sutton and Williams both netted 13, while Catherine Shope scored 12 points.

Collectively, the team was just 23-of-65 from the floor (35.4 percent) in the win.

Reinhardt hopes to keep the momentum rolling on Saturday afternoon at home against St. Andrews (N.C.).

Tip is set for 2 p.m. 

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For more information on Reinhardt Women's Basketball, please click here.