MOUNT VERNON, Ga. – On Saturday night, the Brewton-Parker women's basketball program hosted Life (Ga.) for the 2021-22 home opener. The Lady Barons (2-0) downed the Running Eagles (1-1) with a buzzer-beating bucket in the final seconds to win 70-68.

Head Coach Steve Edwards gave his thoughts after securing the victory in the Lady Barons' home opener. "I'm proud of the group tonight," Edwards said. "We found a way to win late against a tough Life team."

"We struggled in the first half, and we missed a ton of free throws throughout the game," Edwards added. We had young players make huge plays down the stretch tonight."

"Our students had the gym rocking tonight and we really do appreciate the support they provide," Edwards mentioned. "It is always fun to win at the buzzer, especially while playing at home. We will enjoy this win tonight, but we are back to work on Monday."

How It Happened

• The game opened with early back-and-forth shots from both teams with the Lady Barons making a quick 5-0 run with buckets from Micah Bess, Samerria Bryant, and Angel McRae just three minutes in the game to lead 9-4. The Running Eagles quickly responded moments later with two good shots from the charity stripe and a deep ball from distance to even the score at 9-9.
• The Lady Barons grasped the lead yet again with the help of Bryant before Life equalized at 11-11 with two minutes remaining in the opening period. Seconds away from the second quarter, the Running Eagles hit a big three to take the 14-11 lead, closing out the first period.
• In the second quarter, the Running Eagles opened with a jumper just over a minute into the period to advance their lead to five. The Lady Barons chipped away at the lead with a pair of free throws from Madison Evans and Bryant just before Keonya Mincey evened the game at 16-16 with a bucket from beyond the arc.
• After several back-and-forth buckets, Life was able to hold the lead until the 3:42 mark as Sy-Marieona squared things up from the free-throw line. The Running Eagles heated up quickly scoring seven unanswered points before closing out the half with a 29-25 lead.
• Early in the third quarter, Life's lead bounced between four and two points until the Lady Barons tied the game at 35-35 with a jumper from McRae. Life recovered with a two-pointer of their own before Evans hit a deep bucket to give BPC the 38-37 lead.
• Brewton-Parker managed to move to a four-point lead, but Life continued to respond as both teams swapped leads for the rest of the quarter. The Running Eagles were able to score in the final seconds of the third period to lead 49-48.
• The final quarter was filled with lots of back-and-forth between both teams with the largest lead only being four points for Life early on. As time began to run off the clock, both teams traded scores until the final minute. The Lady Barons leveled the game at 66-66 with a score from Bess.
• With 13 seconds remaining, BPC was able to take a 68-66 lead. Seconds later, the Running Eagles scored to even the scoreline at 68-68, giving Brewton-Parker just four seconds to find an opportunity on offense.
• After a 30-second time out, the Lady Barons had just a few seconds to inbound the ball and find an opportunity. Bess missed a reverse layup to give the go-ahead score but Evans was able to get the ball off the rebound and score as time expired, securing the 70-68 win.

Inside The Statistics

• McRae led with 18 points and 10 rebounds for back-to-back double-double performances while Evans notched 18 points and eight boards off the glass.
• Bess also notched double-digit points with 14 as well as six rebounds.
• Bryant led with four assists while Evans and Cisley Copper gathered three each.
• As a team, the Lady Barons shot for 39.4% (26-for-66) from the field and 28.6% (4-for-14) from three-point range. Brewton-Parker recorded a 45.2 (14-for-31) free-throw percentage.
• Brewton-Parker narrowly edged out the Running Eagles in rebounds (36-34).

Other Notables

• The Lady Barons recorded 17 points off turnovers and score nine second-chance points on the night.
• The bench provided Brewton-Parker with 13 points while the Life bench produced 19 points.
• Both teams recorded two blocks each while Brewton-Parker earned an 11-5 advantage in steals.
• The Running Eagles gave up 18 turnovers while the Lady Barons gave up 11.

Next Up

Brewton-Parker returns to action on Wednesday as they are set to host Coastal Georgia at 5:30 p.m. ET in Gillis Gymnasium.