Basketball Stumbles Against Bryan

The Brenau basketball team fell to Bryan (TN) College 81-62 in an Appalachian Athletic Conference matchup on Saturday in Dayton, Tennessee.

After a highly competitive first quarter, the Golden Tigers registered their largest lead of the game after back-to-back three pointers by Madison Phillips gave her team a 27-22 advantage. However, three late Bryan three pointers gave the Lions a 39-35 halftime lead.

After the break, Bryan took their largest lead of the game at 48-39, but Brenau rallied at the end of the quarter as back-to-back baskets by Ashanti Brown and a late three pointer from Carmen Garcia-Pitarch Lopez cut the Lion lead to 57-51.

In the fourth quarter, the Lions continued their hot shooting, outscoring the Golden Tigers 18-4 to pull away with the win.

Bryan outshot the Golden Tigers 48.4% (31-64) to 38.3% (23-60), including a decisive advantage in three-point shooting 47.4% (9-19) to 26.3% (5-19).

"We knew that Bryan was a great shooting team and they hit shots in the fourth quarter to pull away," said head coach Kris Stewart. "We played well enough through three quarters to win the game, but we didn't finish today."

Phillips led the Golden Tigers with a season-high 12 points, while Brown added 11 points.

Amber Levi led Bryan with 19 points.

The loss ended a five game winning streak for the Golden Tigers, who now sit in fifth place in the Appalachian Athletic Conference standings.

Brenau (10-4 overall, 6-4 AAC) next travels to Reinhardt College (13-5 overall, 9-2 AAC) for a 5:30 pm game on Tuesday.