Women's Basketball Blasts Bluefield

Athens, Tenn.- A women's basketball game took place on Tuesday in Athens. Tennessee Wesleyan hosted the Lady Rams of Bluefield University in James L. Robb Gymnasium. The game was an Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) contest.

TWU got off to a hot start as Yeika Jimenez Diaz's layup, three consecutive Anna Crowder layups, and a Mikalee Martin three-pointer gave the team an 11-0 lead. The fire cooled down a little bit as the team only scored eight more points in the quarter. Those points came from Alexis Bates, Crowder, Taylor Penning, and Cambree Mayo. Mayo's three-pointer was the last score of the quarter, making the score 19-13 at the end of the first quarter.

The second quarter opened with back-to-back three-point baskets from Bates and Jaci Powell to push the team ahead 25-13. Five more points from Powell and a layup by Bates moved the team's lead to 32-21 with 6:34 until halftime. The remaining points came from behind the arc for the Lady Bulldogs. A sequence of Mayo, Baxter, Baxter, Mayo, and Bates three-point makes helped the team take a 47-32 advantage into the halftime break.

In a third quarter where the defense only allowed seven points, Tennessee Wesleyan scored the first nine points of the second half. Jimenez Diaz, Crowder, Bates, and Ella Crowder all scored to move the score to 56-32. Mayo knocked down a three-pointer pushing the team over the 60-point mark, and the team went into the fourth quarter leading 65-39 after Jimenez Diaz and A. Crowder layups.

A three-pointer by Bates along with Mayo free throws and a Jimenez Diaz layup gave the Lady Bulldogs their largest lead of the game. The scoreboard read 72-39 to make the lead 33 points with 8:02 remaining in the game. Sierra Bates hit a three-point jump shot and an E. Crowder layup helped the team win the game by a final score of 77-55.

Bates set a new career-high with 17 points to go along with 14 points by Mayo and 11 points from A. Crowder. Jimenez Diaz led on the boards with 12 rebounds.