Women's Basketball Upsets No. 21 Reinhardt on Senior Day

ATHENS, Tenn.- The women's basketball team played their final home game of the season on Saturday. Along with hosting No. 21 Reinhardt University in an Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) game, the team honored their seniors before the game.

TWU opened the game by scoring the first eight points. Mikalee Martin, Anna Crowder, and Cambree Mayo all scored to give the team the 8-0 lead. Reinhardt responded by scoring eight straight points, eventually taking a 10-9 lead after the run. Martin hit a three-pointer to give the team a two-point lead, and Jacelyn Stone made a pair of free throws to help the team lead 14-12 at the end of the first quarter. 

Stone scored three points out of the quarter break to give the team a 17-12 lead. With 5:50 until halftime time, the opponents had come back to tie the game 19-19. Martin broke the tie with a three-point jump shot and moments later gave the team a 24-23 lead with a layup. Trailing by five points, Ella Crowder hit a three-pointer to make the deficit two points at half time, a 31-29 score. 

Out of the halftime break, Reinhardt scored the first six points to take a 37-29 lead. A 10-2 run saw the Lady Bulldogs tie the score 39-39, with A. Crowder, Mayo, and Jaci Powell combined to score those points. The opponents broke the tie, but Ashley Baxter and Stone helped the game go back in a tie, the latter making the score 45-45 to begin the fourth quarter.

A little over three minutes into the fourth quarter, Reinhardt had taken a 53-47. As they had throughout the game, TWU battled back, using points from Mayo to stay close, and tying the game on a Powell three-pointer. With 53 seconds remaining in the game, the lead changed as A. Crowder made a pair of free throws to give the Lady Bulldogs a 57-56 advantage. Two more free throws from A. Crowder and four from Mayo as Reinhardt played the foul game helped Tennessee Wesleyan hold on to the lead, giving the team a 63-56 upset win.

Mayo led the offense with 16 points, A. Crowder added 15 points and Martin had 11 points. Stone and A.Crowder both had 9 rebounds.

The win moves the team's record to 12-12 overall and 10-12 in the AAC while helping the the Lady Bulldogs clinch the No. 7 seed in the upcoming AAC Tournament. The team will open the tournament on Wednesday against No. 10 seed Union College at 4:15 p.m., in Kingsport, Tenn.