Women's Basketball Defends its Way to 20th AAC Win

By Mike DeVader, Reinhardt Director of Athletic Communications & Media

COLUMBIA, S.C. – It wasn't easy or that pretty, but Reinhardt won a slugfest on the road at Columbia International (S.C.), 59-46, Saturday afternoon to claim its 20^th victory on the year inside the Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC).

The Eagles now stand at 23-2 – with 12 victories in-a-row – and 20-2 within the AAC.

"Honestly, in the first half, we couldn't buy a basket, but our defense was awesome," head coach Toby Wagoner said. We did struggle to rebound or keep them off the glass, but our first half defensive effort was great. I thought it was kind of a sloppy game for us, particularly in second half. It felt like we came out in the third quarter and really got after it and then we lost our focus; not really sure how or why but that's on me. We will take a look and learn from this. With only two regular-season conference games and the conference tournament remaining, we have to zero-in and focus even more on the task at hand.

"I'm confident with our seniors; their leadership is awesome."

The Rams were kept to 10-or-fewer points in each of the first three quarters, including just four tallies in the opening 10 minutes. The hometown team did great on the defensive end, but couldn't put their hosts away as the offense sputtered during the same timeframe.

A 14-4 first-stanza lead was 28-14 heading to the break. The second and third periods mirrored each other (14-10 in favor of the Eagles) until both teams put their best performances on the court in the final collection of minutes.

In fact, Columbia International posted a game-best 22 tallies in the fourth quarter, but it wasn't enough to make a dent in its deficit after Reinhardt got 17 of its own.

Bethany Headrick (8-of-13) led all scorers with 18 points, 7 rebounds and 6 steals. Amberlee Zeller was also in double digits with 12 points and seven boards.

The starters accounted for 53 points in the win.

As a group, the Eagles shot 40 percent – 20-for-50 – and hit a half-dozen shots from deep. 

The final home game inside the Brown Athletic Center is Feb. 19 against Montreat (N.C.) as Reinhardt celebrates Senior Night at 5:30 p.m.

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