Nashville, Tenn. - Junior guard Tierra Brown (Orlando, Fla.) set career highs with 23 points and eight assists while junior center Natasha Graboski (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) added a career-high 17 of her own with seven rebounds in a gritty comeback effort, but the Stetson women's basketball team (1-12, 1-3 Atlantic Sun) fell just short in a 74-69 conference loss at Belmont (7-5, 2-2 A-Sun) Monday evening at the Curb Event Center.
Playing without sophomore guard and leading scorer on the season Kerri Simpson (Charleston, Tenn.), who turned an ankle in Saturday's loss to Lipscomb, Stetson shook off an early scoring drought to make a close game of it at halftime (34-30). The Bruins popped out to an 11-3 run to start the second half, however, and that lead held up for over 15 minutes. Simpson had 15 points in the Lipscomb game before her injury and averages 10.7 ppg on the year. The late-game charge that gave Stetson a chance was a 14-2 run that spanned nearly six minutes (8:01 to 2:13 on the game clock).
Stetson mounted a charge to within four points with four minutes left in the game; a court-length outlet pass from freshman guard Dashauna Truss (Jacksonville, Fla.) to senior forward Ashli Jackson (Opelika, Ala.) made it 65-61 at that point. The Hatters continued to press forward, cutting the deficit to one point with 2:13 remaining on a Graboski baby hook in the paint.
The Hatters took possession of the ball down 68-66 with 34.2 seconds left after two good Bruin looks at the basket failed to find the net. Brown's jumper from the elbow was off the mark; Haley Nelson rebounded for the Bruins, was fouled, and made the two free throws that sealed the win for Belmont. Brown would stroke a three with six seconds left that got Stetson back within three, but that proved to be the last gasp for the Hatters. Belmont made six consecutive free throws in the final 30 seconds.
Poor free throw shooting was a thorn in Stetson's side all night - the Hatters missed nine of their first 10 attempts from the charity stripe and ended the game just eight for 19 (.421) overall. However, Stetson countered with a season-high scoring effort and its cleanest ballhandling game of the season - the Hatters committed a season-low 11 turnovers. Truss scored six points and grabbed a career-high six rebounds to augment the efforts of Brown and Graboski. Brown's previous career highs were 22 points, accomplished three times, most recently vs. Kennesaw State on February 14, 2009, and six assists vs. Lipscomb on January 31, 2009.
Amber Rockwell scored 18 points in the game's first 13 minutes; although she did not score again, she remained Belmont's leading scorer at game's end. Nelson (14 points, 15 rebounds, four blocks) and Kristin Bunch (14 points, 10 rebounds) put up double-doubles for the Bruins with point guard Shaunda Strayhorn adding eight points and eight assists.
Belmont jumped out to a 14-2 lead in the first five minutes of the game with Rockwell scoring 12 of those points. Stetson would eventually settle down and chip the deficit down to one point with approximately 10 minutes left in the half; although Belmont pushed back ahead by seven, an Ashli Jackson (Opelika, Ala.) three-pointer brought the Hatters back within 26-24 with six minutes left before halftime.
The two teams traded buckets for the remainder of the period and went into the locker room with the Bruins ahead 34-30. Rockwell knocked down six of eight three-point attempts in the first 20 minutes and had 18 points; Nelson and Bunch grabbed seven rebounds each to lead Belmont on the boards. Graboski surpassed her season high in the first half alone with 11 points; Brown had eight points and five assists.
The Hatters will try to end their five-game skid Thursday at 7 p.m. when they return to the Edmunds Center to host A-Sun rival Jacksonville. Bill Topping and Dee Romine have the call on Hatter Vision with Live Stats also available at www.GoHatters.com.
