Eagles Too Strong For Buffaloes in Sunday Matinee

By Mike DeVader, Reinhardt Director of Athletic Communications & Media 

Photo Courtesy of Greg Spell/G-RoxPhotos.com

WALESKA, Ga. – The Eagles claimed their 10^th-straight victory on Sunday afternoon, 71-60, over Milligan (Tenn.) after the two schools had to reschedule their Saturday contest due to snow in the area.

Reinhardt (21-2, 18-2 Appalachian Athletic Conference) started fast – 25 points in the first quarter – and overcame some rough patches against the Buffaloes to earn another hard-fought AAC triumph inside the Brown Athletic Center.

Four players hit double-digit scoring for the hometown team, led by Ashton Sutton's five treys and 21 tallies overall and nine rebounds. Bethany Headrick was right behind her with 17 points, while the duo of Amberlee Zeller and Brittany Burnett each posted 11.

"Today's game was really special because it was our first 'Pink Game,' head coach Toby Wagoner said. "No doubt, we are really happy and excited for this team because we expected Milligan to be a tough game. They are a well-coached team that really does a great job of playing to their strengths. They are not a team that beats themselves; they are a team that requires you to play well to compete with them. I thought we had a really good team effort with positive contributions coming from several people. It's really exciting to see this team grow and improve this time of the year. It was great to see us take care of the basketball and play with good ball movement. Defensively, felt like we were overall pretty solid and super excited to see us execute and adjust to situations. 

"Overall, I thought we played a pretty good game on both ends of the floor and loved seeing us play as a team."

Milligan was able to speed up its hosts in the second quarter and get the Eagles away from what got them an 11-point advantage after 10 minutes of action. The Buffaloes were able to close the gap a touch heading into the locker room after forcing Reinhardt into uncharacteristic mistakes and poor shots.

Down, 36-29, the visitors were able to stay shot-for-shot with the Eagles in the third stanza, a period in which the home team has particularly dominated in its own building this year, and head to the final quarter within striking distance at 55-47.

A quick, 7-0 spurt in the opening moments of the fourth period put Milligan on its heels and it could never fully recover. The lead for Reinhardt would hit a contest-high 18 points less than four minutes into the fourth.

From there, the Eagles were in good position to be victorious.

Sutton (six steals) got hot again from beyond the arc, but also was all over the glass with nine rebounds. Burnett was also a key cog on the defensive side with five thefts.

Symone Williams notched five assists with her two points.

Neither team shot the ball particularly well on the day, with Reinhardt leading the way at 40.3 percent on 27-of-67 from the floor. 

Milligan connected on just 17-for-51 (33.3 percent) and was blocked six times – three rejections by Zeller.

The season series with the Koalas of Columbia (S.C.) comes to a close on Wednesday night at 5:30 p.m. at home.

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