The Bluffton University women's basketball team welcomed Franklin College to town on Saturday, Feb. 1, 2020, for Alumni Day. The Beavers were able to hold off a tough Grizzly team, 66-56. Bluffton improved to 10-9 (4-8 HCAC) while Franklin slipped to 11-7 (7-5 HCAC).

Franklin controlled the tip and hit the first basket of the game before a Tj Mills (Dayton/Chaminade-Julienne) triple and a layup from Nora Hemminger (McComb) gave the Beavers a 5-4 lead. Two buckets in the paint and two freebies from Brianna Gillig (New Riegel) pushed the Bluffton lead to six with just under two minutes in the first. A trifecta for Sammy Shardo (Findlay/Liberty-Benton) followed by two Hemminger charity shots had the Beavers up 19-11 at the end of one.

A 6-5 run for the Grizzlies early in the second brought them within seven, but the Beaver offense was able to pull away again when they went on a 9-0 jag to push the score out to 33-17. A Gillig jumper and two foul shots for Morgan Smith (Arlington) gave the Beavers a 39-26 lead at the half.

Kylie Brock (Villa Hills, KY/Dixie Heights) hit back-to-back shots early in the third to keep the Beaver lead at 13 (43-30). An offensive spark for the Grizzlies had them going on a 10-3 run which pulled the visitors within six at the 5:11 mark. Four Mills freebies pushed the home team lead back out to 10, but Franklin bucketed five straight to make the game 53-48 going into the final stanza.

Two field goals from Mills to start the fourth put the good gals up 57-50. A pair of Gillig freebies followed by a Mills trifecta pushed the lead back up to 10 (62-52). A Gillig tip-in nailed down Bluffton's 66-56 victory.

Mills led the Bluffton offense with 21 points, just one shy of tying her career high, and the senior pulled down six rebounds. She hit 6-of-8 from the field, 7-of-8 at the line, dished out three assists and came up with three steals. Right behind her was Gillig who tallied 20 markers and 13 boards for her 6th career double-double. Hemminger and Smith also pulled down four rebounds apiece.

The Beavers connected on 23-of-62 (37.1 percent) shots from the field and 4-of-16 (25 percent) from the arc. Franklin bucketed 23-of-61 (37.7 percent), but just 2-of-11 (18.2 percent) from deep. Bluffton netted an impressive 16-of-19 (84.2 percent) at the stripe compared to Franklin's 8-of-13 (61.5 percent). Bluffton pulled down seven more boards (42-35) and stole the ball six more times (11-5). They also turned the ball over two fewer times (18-16).

The women are back in action on Wednesday, Feb. 5, when they welcome Mount St. Joseph to Copeland Court. Tip-off is slated for 7:30 p.m.

Men’s game
The Bluffton University men's basketball team played host to Heartland Conference-leading Franklin College on Saturday, Feb. 1 at the Sommer Center. The home team jumped out to a fast start and never looked back. Bluffton came away with a very hard-fought 67-53 win and now stands 10-9 overall and 6-6 in the HCAC, while Franklin fell to 13-6 and 9-3 in the conference.

Bluffton would see its early lead climb to six (11-5) when Isaiah Taylor (Yellow Springs) got to the rack. The home team would control much of the game, only allowing the Grizzlies to cut it to three points (54-51) with 7:16 on the clock in the second half, en route to a convincing 67-53 win.

The home team went up 9-3 when Taylor dropped his deuce with 17:18 on the clock. Bluffton extended its lead to 21-7 when Dezman Brown (Elyria) dialed long distance distance with 11:58 left in the first half. The Grizzlies cut the deficit to eight (32-24) when Payton Mills knocked down a jumper with less than six minutes to play in the first period. The home team would push the lead back to double digits at 38-24 heading into the break.

The Beavers would keep their feet on the pedal in the second half when Andrew Renner (Cairo/Bath) scored the first bucket for the home team to make it 40-26 with 19:16 on the clock. Franklin clawed back and made it 54-51 on a pair of Borden Kennedy free throws with 7:16 left to play. Bluffton would pull away from that point on thanks to some huge buckets, inbcluding a triple from Brown that just beat the shot clock with 5:54 to play, that helped seal the 67-53 win for the home team.

Brown led the way with a career-high 23 points on 9-of-12 shooting from field and a red-hot 4-of-5 from behind the arc. Taylor checked in with 18 points of his own on 9-of-15 from the field and he pulled down six rebounds in the win. Renner notched 11 on 4-of-14 shooting to go along with a team-high seven rebounds. Freshman Marcus Bruns (Coldwater) hauled in three crucial caroms in a six minute stretch to end the first half.

Bluffton hit 27-of-52 (51.9 percent) from the field and was an efficient 7-of-16 (43.8 percent) from distance. The home team pulled down 33 rebounds compared to just 24 for the visitors. Both teams coughed the ball up 10 times on the afternoon.

Bluffton will be back in action on Wednesday, Feb. 5, when they travel to Mount St. Joseph to take on the Lions in a Heartland Conference clash. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m.