BRENHAM, Texas – Blinn College women’s basketball was within striking distance of No. 2 Trinity Valley Community College but could not come up with the key plays down the stretch in a 73-67 loss Tuesday night inside the P.E. Building.
“I honestly think we will only get better,” said Blinn head coach Jeff Jenkins. “When you play a motion offense and run a man to man defense then it is only going to get better every game.”
Trinity Valley did its best to key in on Blinn leading scorer Ebony Parker and forced other players to step up. The Buccaneers showed some balanced throughout the game but the loss lowered the Blinn record to 6-2 overall and 1-1 in Region XIV play.
Ekiya Gray did a good job of stepping up in leading Blinn with 15 points while Jeliah Preston tossed in 11 points. Parker was still able to chip in 10 points in the loss, well below her average of 22.8 points per game before the Trinity Valley game. Maya Singleton, Christalah Lyons and Alisha Washington each had 13 points to lead Trinity Valley.
Trinity Valley came out with a lot of defensive pressure in the opening quarter and used that pressure to jump out to an 18-11 lead in the first seven minutes. Blinn was able to crawl back into the game with the help of Gray with nine points in the quarter. Gray hit a jumper near the baseline and Penina Faumui nailed a 3-pointer at the buzzer to get within 22-19 of Trinity Valley after one.
Trinity Valley broke the game open to start the second by opening on a 10-2 run to take a 32-21 lead with 7:01 left. Preston scored five points in the quarter for Blinn but the Buccaneers still trailed by double-digits at the half, 43-33.
Blinn showed its balance in the third quarter with nine different players scoring as it helped the Buccaneers get within 59-54 heading into the fourth.
Defensive breakdowns and giving up too many second-chance points hurt Blinn in the final period as Trinity Valley was efficient enough on offense to hold on for the six-point victory.
Blinn will hit the road after the Thanksgiving holiday will a trip to face Temple College on Monday, Nov. 30 at 5:30 p.m.
Blinn has competed in intercollegiate athletics since 1903 and captured 32 NJCAA national championships since 1987. For more information, visit www.buccaneersports.com.
