SOUTH BEND, IN – Spring Arbor University women's basketball team had chance to tie the game up at the end, but a 3-pointer from Jessica Garrison just missed the mark and the Lady Cougars fell to Indiana University-South Bend 72-67 on Saturday afternoon in South Bend, IN.
Spring Arbor led for the entire first half, and for five minutes of the second half before the 8-1 Titans took the lead on a 3-pointer from IUSB's Ashley Carson with 14:49 left in the game. The Cougars held a 34-32 halftime lead.
With Spring Arbor leading 41-36 with 16:59 to go in the game, the Titans ran off a 20-2 run to take command of the game leading 56-43 with 8:55 remaining.
The Cougars made a valiant attempt to reclaim the lead and with 4:56 left and trailing 56-67 Spring Arbor out-scored the Titans 8-1 to cut the lead to four points (64-68) with 2:30 left to play.
Neither team would score a point over the next minute and fifty seconds until IUSB hit a pair of free throws to lead the Cougars 70-64 with 24 seconds remaining.
Kylie Townsley nailed a 3-pointer with 16 seconds remaining to make it a one-possession game, 64-67 and the Cougars got the ball back with 0:08 on the clock after a missed free throw and Cougar rebound by Rachel Driesenga. After Garrison's 3-pointer missed the mark, the Titan's Meagen Callaway collected the rebound and was emmidiately fouled and hit both free throws to complete the scoring in the game at 72-67.
"I'm proud of how our girls played," said Head Coach, Ryan Frost. "We fought hard the whole game and made some solid plays but, sometime you just run out of time. This was Jess Garrison's best effort of the year, and we also got solid minutes off the bench from Lindsey (Burnside), LeAnn (Porter), and Jessica Mabry.
Carlie Newman led the Cougars with 21 points and 12 rebounds for her second consecutive double-double and third of the season. Garrison poured in a season high 18 points while Kylie Towslie added 12 points and Karly Bender added 11 points.
Lindsey Burnside hauled in 12 rebounds for Spring Arbor.
Spring Arbor falls to 4-3 on the season and will begin the Crossroads League season Tuesday at home against Goshen College. The Cougars split last season's home and home with the Maple Leafs who own a 1-7 record so far this season. Game time on Bockwitz Court is set for 7:00 p.m.
