Lady Golden Bears Drop SIAC Opener at Claflin
Box Score ORANGEBURG, S.C. – Miles has struggled at the start of games this season and that issue reared its ugly head in the school's Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference opener at Claflin on Saturday afternoon.
The Lady Golden Bears could not find the bottom of the basket in the opening 20 minutes and found themselves in a 31-point hole at halftime. They acquitted themselves in the second half but it was not enough in an 84-58 loss to the Panthers at Tullis Arena. The loss was the fifth straight for Miles (1-5, 0-1) while Claflin (7-2, 1-0) snapped a two-game skid.
Porshia Blue was just 6-of-17 from the field but scored a team-high 19 points while adding nine rebounds, three assists and two steals.
Ashley Steger and
Alasha Foster each had 12 points each for the Lady Golden Bears, who shot just 36 percent from the field in dropping their sixth straight conference game.
Miles had not played in almost a month and the rust was evident early. Four turnovers and a missed 3-pointer on five of their first six possessions showed a Lady Golden Bears team that was not in sync. Blue, though, hit her first three shot attempts and scored eight straight points to give Miles an early 10-9 advantage.
From there, though, the bottom fell out. Over the next eight minutes,
Wendy Miller (six points) had the only Miles basket as Claflin opened a 36-14 advantage with just more than four minutes left in the first half. The only other field goal in the first half came from
Ebony McNeill (five points) as the Lady Golden Bears shot 5-for-27 from the field (18.5 percent) and trailed 50-19 at halftime. While the offense struggled, the defense did not offer much resistance as the Panthers shot 54 percent from the field and were 8-of-13 on 3-pointers.
The second half saw a much more inspired effort from the Lady Golden Bears, who shot nearly 52 percent from the field. But Miles never got any closer than 18 points late in the contest as Claflin won going away.
Miles is back in action on Dec. 5 when it continues its road trip in Augusta, Ga. against Paine. Tip-off is scheduled for 4:30 p.m.
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