Shorter Dominates the Boards to Defeat Brenau

Gainesville, GA- The Brenau basketball team (11-5, 3-3) came up short today against the visiting Shorter Hawks (12-5, 4-2), losing a critical SSAC game 69-63. The Hawks dominated the boards, outrebounding the Tigers 44-22 and shot .440 from the field compared to .354 for Brenau. Senior Paige Cooper had a solid game with 12 points and eight rebounds and Meg Henson came up with 10 points, five assists and four steals. Ashley Hagans led the scoring with 21 points and had three steals. Shorter was led by Ashley Harris with 16 points and six rebounds and Shelby Farrer with 15 points and seven rebounds.The Hawks ran off to a 10-2 early lead, but Brenau came right back and got back into the game at 22 apiece. The Tigers then took control and established a 33-28 advantage at the half. Shorter took the lead with about eight minutes to go and held on for the win on the strength of free throws at the end. Brenau actually had a chance to tie the game with 15 seconds to go, but turned the ball over and the Hawks salted it away with free throws. Brenau never got untracked from the three point line, shooting 9-35 for a .257 percentage and with the rebounding differential, it became very difficult to come back. "We did a good job with our pressure defense, forcing 26 turnovers, but the poor rebounding effort cost us dearly," said Coach Gary Bays. "Our shot selection was not what it should have been either." Brenau will play host to Emmanuel on Tuesday at 6 pm in another key SSAC contest.