VIENNA-Two teams took to the hardwood court at the Snyder Activity Center on the campus of Ohio Valley University-OVU's women and Bluefield State's men-looking for their first victory of the 2011-12 season.
Both will have to wait at least one more game as the Fighting Scots picked up victory number two with a 74-65 win over the men from Bluefield State while the Lady Blues kept the OVU women winless with an 84-47 triumph Monday night.
Ohio Valley men 74,
Article Photos
Photos by Jeff Baughan
Ohio Valley University's Tara Benedict puts up a shot as Bluefield's Shae Mebane attempts to stop her during Monday’s action at the Snyder Activity Center The Fighting Scots lost, 84-47.
Bluefield State 65
OVU senior guard Ashton Brown may not be the tallest player on the basketball court. But, the Buffalo, N.Y., native came up big in the second half to lead the Fighting Scots to a come-from-behind victory over Bluefield State.
"I didn't do too much all game long, so I figured that I needed to take over sometime," said Brown, who scored a team-high 18 points and dished out five assists as OVU improved to 2-6 (1-3 WVC) on the season. "That (the second half) is how I normally play, but I let too many things get in my head in the first half and my teammates just told me to settle down and it worked."
After a rebound bucket by the Big Blue's Samuel Ouedraogo knotted the contest at 62 with 3:12 showing on the clock, Brown put the hosts back in the lead for good 22 seconds later when he found a wide open Neil Gingerich for a layup then drilled a short jumper at the top of the key to push the Scots back in front, 66-62, with 2:24 left to play.
Ohio Valley, which travels to Glenville State College on Friday, connected on six of eight free throws down the stretch and Brown hit Evan Jamison with a perfect pass for a layup for the final points of the game.
"It (the win) is big right now, because it will lift up our spirits as we get ready for our next game," said Brown.
Joining Brown in double figures for the Scots was Jerry Macon, Jr. with 15 points while Mustafa Helal added eight points and seven blocked shots.
Bluefield State women 84,
Ohio Valley 47
The Lady Blues jumped out to a 10-0 start and never looked back in raising their mark to 2-2 (2-2 WVC) on the season with their 84-47 win over Ohio Valley.
Reserve Tori Patrick came off of the bench to net a game-high 16 points as three players reached double figures for the visitors-Shay Gravely added 15 points and Charity Harris chipped with 12.
Ohio Valley (0-7, 0-4 WVC) received 12 points from Amy Brooks and 11 from Jasmine Gibson, but it was not enough as Bluefield State held the Scots to 23.1 percent shooting from the field (1-of-10 from the arc) and forced 28 turnovers en route to the 37-point victory.
"After the pressure begins, the frustration kicks in," said senior Tara Benedict, who finished with eight points and as many rebounds. "We are a really young team and our point guard (Shelby Way) was sick.
"But, we still have to be able to find a way to battle through those kinds of things and right now we haven't been able to overcome them."
Bluefield's Dragana Tomic got things rolling for the guests as she picked off a pair of OVU passes, turning the first into a layup for herself and then hitting teammate Jenaya Abernathy for an easy deuce 28 seconds later.
The margin grew to 22, 26-4, on a rebound bucket by the Blues' Tasia Nolan before OVU rallied over the next seven minutes to slice the margin to 12, 34-22, on a rebound bucket by Benedict and a one-for-two effort at the line by Way.
That would be as close as the hosts would get, however, as Bluefield State tallied the final nine points of the half to head into the locker room leading by 21, 43-22.
