Young Harris Slips By Brenau 66-59
The Brenau basketball lost a close non-conference game to Young Harris (Ga.) College 66-59 on Saturday afternoon in Young Harris, Ga.
In the first quarter, Brenau started off slowly as Young Harris jumped out to a quick 11-2 lead. However, four points from Anikee Combee and five from Kalin Williams in the period helped close the deficit to 17-13.
Williams opened the second quarter with a jumper to cut the gap to one point, then Briah Woods added a three-pointer to give Brenau a 18-17 lead. The Golden Tigers continued to hold the lead throughout the period until a late score by the Mountain Lions tied the score at 25-25 going into intermission.
In the third period, neither team could seize control as the score changed on three different occasions and was tied three other times. With three seconds left in the period, freshman Kaylyn Brooks found Sydney Haas for a three-pointer to give Brenau a 43-40 lead.
During the last period, Young Harris rallied to take a 49-45 lead with seven minutes remaining. Williams responded with a layup to cut the lead to 49-47, then Quinnesha Turner hit a jumper to take a 50-49 lead at the 6:18 mark. Autumn Dodson knocked down a three-pointer to extend the lead to 53-50, but Brenau went two minutes without a basket to find themselves down 60-53 at the two minute mark.
With 38 seconds left, Turner found Dodson for a long jumper to cut the lead to 62-59, but missed a late three point attempt to close the game.
"I am very proud of how hard we fought against a very good Young Harris squad," said head coach Kris Stewart. "We played very hard and had some nice performances. We couldn't pull the win out at the end, but we did some very nice things that will serve us well in the second half of the season."
Williams finished with a game-high 21 points. Turner added nine points, six rebounds and six assists, while Dodson added eight points and seven rebounds.
Jenny Vernet led Young Harris with 17 points.
Brenau (7-2 overall, 2-0 SSAC) takes a break for the holidays, then travels to Montreat (N.C.) College on December 30th for at 2 pm tipoff.