Anderson Takes Down Bluffton

The Anderson University women's basketball team took down Bluffton University with a 64-57 victory during Saturday's Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) matchup in O.C. Lewis Gymnasium.

"This was another one of those must win games for our team in order to keep any post season tournament hopes alive," Coach Lindsay Shade said. "With the exception of the points we allowed off our turnovers, I thought our defense was fantastic. I felt like we disrupted their offensive execution and forced them to shoot a lot of contested perimeter shots."

Anderson (9-12, 5-9) converted 22-of-52 (42.3 percent) shots from the field while Bluffton made 20-of-60 (33.3 percent) attempts from the floor. The Beavers were forced to take 23 shots from 3-point range and made four (17.4 percent) attempts. Anderson hit 2-of-13 (15.4 percent) attempts from the perimeter.

The Ravens knocked down 18-of-21 (85.7 percent) shots from the free-throw line while the Beavers sank 13-of-17 (76.5 percent) attempts from the charity stripe.

Anderson outrebounded Bluffton 41-28. Despite finishing minus-1 on offensive rebounds, Bluffton held a 12-4 advantage on second-chance points.

The Ravens committed 17 turnovers while the Beavers turned the ball over 10 times. Bluffton rolled to a 15-0 advantage in fast-break points and a 17-4 advantage in points off turnovers.

Hannah Hawkins recorded her 135th career block to become the school's career leader blocks in the Anderson Division III era, which dates back to the beginning of the 1993-94 season. The 6-foot-2 junior center from Fairmount led the Ravens with 17 points and 13 rebounds.

Lexi Dellinger and Payton Moore posted 15 points each.

"I cannot say enough about Lexi, Payton, and Hannah and the way they were executing our half-court offense. Lexi is getting so good at using the ball screens and she becoming really hard for teams to guard. This week in practice, I challenged the posts to be harder to guard and I thought they were really good [on Saturday]."

Kristin Dubois turned in six points. Hanna Ault and Mariah Clemons provided four points each. Jade Shipley rounded out the Anderson scoring effort with three points.

"We still need to cut back on unforced turnovers, but I am pleased with the discipline we showed on both sides of the ball."

Anderson moved into a tie for sixth in the HCAC standings and is currently one game out of a tie fourth. The Ravens are slated for two HCAC matchups next week. Anderson challenges Hanover College (14-6, 13-1) on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. in O.C. Lewis Gymnasium. The Ravens then face off with Franklin College (12-8, 8-6) on Saturday at 1 p.m. in Franklin.