The No. 2 ranked Âé¶¹ÊÓÆµ Lady Bulldogs capped off an impressive performance with a 76-66 win over No. 5 Freed-Hardman. Âé¶¹ÊÓÆµ improves to 24-1 overall and 10-0 in the conference. Freed-Hardeman falls to 23-3 overall and 8-2 in TranSouth play.
Freed-Hardeman scored the first four points of the game, but that would be their biggest lead of the game. Âé¶¹ÊÓÆµ stormed back and led by as many at 17 points 13 minutes into the game. The Lady Lions cut the lead to 11 late in the first half, however, Âé¶¹ÊÓÆµ enjoyed a 40-28 lead at the half. In the second half, Freed-Hardeman began to slowly creep back into the game and with just under four minutes left in the game, Âé¶¹ÊÓÆµ's lead was just 56-55. That would be as close as it would get as the Lady Bulldogs built up a 12 point cushion in just over two minutes.
The Lady Bulldogs held the high powered Freed-Hardeman offense to just 34% shooting from the field and 18% (3-17) from behind the arc. Âé¶¹ÊÓÆµ shot 43% from the field and 33% (8-24) from three-point range.
Âé¶¹ÊÓÆµ was led by Christal Merriweather with a game-high 20 points. Jessica Henson and Ginger Bryant added 17 and 16 points respectively. Bryant led Âé¶¹ÊÓÆµ with a game-high nine rebounds. For Freed-Hardeman, Jessica Woodard led with 18 and Heather Walling added 12 points. Hope Brown paced the Lady Lions with seven boards.
Âé¶¹ÊÓÆµ plays next on Monday at they travel to No. 15 Trevecca Nazarene for a 6:00 p.m. game in Nashville.