Cold shooting led to an early 10-point deficit, but the Buccaneers quickly righted the ship and powered past LSU-Eunice for an 89-61 victory Wednesday at the Kruse Center in Brenham.
The victory was Blinn’s second over Eunice this season after defeating the Bengals 80-69 on the road on Nov. 3.
“We play six non-conference road games and six non-conference home games, so for us to have five of our wins on the road and have 10 wins against some really good competition, that’s huge for us,” Blinn head coach Jeff Jenkins said. “All 10 wins are against scholarship, Division I NJCAA teams, so these are good teams we’re playing.”
Blinn trailed 18-8 late in the first period before Jakoria Long’s two makes from the free-throw line ignited a 13-4 run.
Freshman guard Makayla Patterson put Blinn ahead for good when she knocked down a 3-pointer just before the halftime buzzer to send the hosts into the break with a 34-33 edge.
It was 44-41 Blinn midway through the third period when freshman Allana Thompson started a 16-0 push with a steal-layup combo. Freshman Amillion Fowler ended the run with two free throws as the Bucs’ lead swelled to 60-41.
Thompson said Blinn’s 10-day break, which ran through the Thanksgiving holiday, may have contributed to the sluggish first quarter, but added that once the Buccaneers got going, it was smooth sailing.
“We aren’t really used to being off that many days,” she said. “Being off that long is tough, but once we finally got back to our pace and how we play, we were like ‘OK, we can get this going.'”
Blinn led 64-59 after the third quarter.
Leading the way for the Buccaneers was Thompson with 14 points. Patterson added 13 and freshman Telisha Brown chipped in 12.
Blinn will host Cisco at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Kruse Center in a rematch from a Nov. 18 non-conference tilt at Cisco. The Buccaneers won that game 80-69.
Blinn has competed in intercollegiate athletics since 1903 and captured 42 NJCAA national championships since 1987.
