BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Rhodes College women's basketball team was outscored 21-9 in the third quarter to turn a five point halftime deficit into the 17 point deficit to Birmingham-Southern. The Lynx cut it under double digits in the fourth, but it would not be enough as Rhodes fell to the Panthers, 64-52.
The Lynx only shot 18-for-51 (35.3%) from the field, but did shoot well from 3-point land, going 8-for-18 (44.4%). BSC responded by shooting 21-for-52 (40.4%) from the field and 10-for-25 (40.0%) from downtown. The struggled with turnovers, finishing with 19 total while the Panthers turned it over 11 times. Birmingham-Southern also outscored the Lynx in the paint, 13-4.
Both offenses got off to a slow start, but back-to-back 3-pointers from senior
Symone Daniels pushed Rhodes ahead, 6-1. After buckets from sophomores
Jessie Ustick and
Erin Deery put the Lynx up 11-6, Birmingham-Southern outscored Rhodes 8-2 to finish the quarter ahead 14-13.
Senior
Catherine Eckert put Rhodes up 17-15 as the two teams began to exchange buckets back-and-forth as Ustick and senior
Hannah Orth kept the Lynx ahead by two. However, the Panthers used 3-point shooting to get the lead back and push it out to five, leading 28-23 at the break.
A 9-1 run midway through the third quarter pushed a six point deficit out to 14 as BSC could not miss from the field. The Panthers found themselves ahead 49-32 at the end of three.
Rhodes didn't go down quietly as four 3-pointers by Eckert in the quarter pushed the deficit as close as nine. It would not be enough though as the Panthers held on to their lead and finished the game out with a 64-52 victory.
Eckert finished with 16 points including five 3-pointers in the contest while Daniels added eight. Deery, Ustick, and junior
Bailey Kramer all added six points each while Kramer pulled down nine boards. Kramer and junior
Blaire Smith each had three assists while Smith finished with four steals.
Rhodes now sits at 13-11 overall and 7-6 in Southern Athletic Association play. The Lynx will hit the road for their regular season finale against the Millsaps Majors in Jackson. Tipoff is set for 1 PM.
