Downward spiral continues for Presbyterian in loss at Belmont

By Brittney Redstone

Nashville, TN — The matchup between the Belmont Bruins and the Presbyterian Blue Hose was filled with intensity and physical defense by the home team. The women were flying across the court with nothing but determination in their wake — especially Belmont who won by 42 points, 90-48.

“They were a really physical team and they came at us physically,” explained Head Coach Bart Brooks. “There was a couple times where we weren’t working to make those shots.”

The game opened up with the Bruins vigorously dominating the court. They played defense with such intensity, that it seemed as if they knew exactly what the Blue Hose were going to do before they even did it. Although, the first shot was made by Presbyterian's Ericka Blackwell-Boyden, Belmont fired back with a three-point jumper by Kylee Smith.

By the conclusion of the opening frame, the Bruins already had a huge lead with 28 points and its defense was causing problems for the Blue Hose who only had 10 points in the period.

The second stanza was owned by Belmont’s Darby Maggard, also known as “Peanut” by her teammates, who proved despite her size, she is, in fact, a force to be reckoned with. At halftime, Maggard already had scored six three-point goals (20 points in the half), putting her more than halfway towards a program record of 10.

With a duo as powerful as Maggard and Smith, the Bruins closed out the first half of the game with a 21-point lead, 47-26.

At the beginning of the third, the heat was beaming off of both teams as the Bruins looked to keep the momentum going and Presbyterian get back in the game. The Blue Hose had to narrow the 21-point gap in the second half if they wanted even a fighting chance to bring home this win — the deficit was too big, though.

Despite the seemingly large scoring gap, Presbyterian’s Janie Miles was doing all she could to bring her team momentum, however, her team-high 11 points was not nearly enough against a stacked Belmont team.

The fourth quarter was even more of a struggle for the Blue Hose whose offense became extremely stagnant, while the Bruins continued to whip the ball around and score easy baskets. By the end of the period, Belmont had outscored Presbyterian 22-7 and brought their game spread to 42-points better than their opponent with a final score of 90-48.

“We had a few more turnovers than what we would have hoped, but overall it was good,” Maggard stated after the game.

“We started off early getting shots off — getting shots we wanted and that’s what Belmont is about. We love sharing the ball,” explained Smith.

The Bruins finished with 25 assists in the game — the Blue Hose had 13. Smith finished with a game-high 25 points, while Maggard added 22 points of her own.

Belmont extended its winning streak to three-straight and Presbyterian now has dropped the last four games.