Women's Basketball
The Bluffton University women's basketball team was rewarded for all of its work during the crazy season that was 2020-21 when the Heartland Conference blind draw saw the Beavers pull out the golden ticket, a #1 seed for the HCAC tournament. Bluffton won 12 of its first 13, sandwiching six wins on each side of a December 12 loss at Transylvania. The Beavers made their 8th straight trip to the Heartland Conference tournament with all but three of those resulting in semifinal appearances.
Bluffton will be without the services of Nora Hemminger, Kylie Brock, Abby Parkins and Claire Myree, but First Team All-HCAC honoree Brianna Gillig (New Riegel) returns following three straight years of All-Heartland recognition. Gillig checked in at number 2 in the conference with 18.7 PPG which is also the 2nd-highest scoring average in Bluffton women's history. Her 83.1 (74-of-89) free throw percentage is 9th all-time and 4th in the HCAC this season. She put up a Bluffton and Heartland Conference record 41 points at Manchester on January 29, torching the previous school mark of 33 points. Her 7.7 RPG ranked 5th in the conference. The talented senior is already tied for 12th on the all-time scoring list with 1,010 career points and she has Macey Sheerer's Bluffton-record 1,393 points firmly in her sights heading into 2021-22.
Fellow senior Emma Saltzman (Arcadia) has also been a mainstay in Bluffton's lineup her first three seasons. She bucketed 8.0 PPG and ripped down 6.3 RPG while hitting 64-of-129 for 49.6 shooting from the field. Junior marksman Sammy Shardo (Findlay/Liberty-Benton) led the Heartland Conference with 38 makes from distance. She tallied 8.9 PPG and doled out 43 assists, both of which placed her second on the team. Peyton Henry (Leipsic) gives the Beavers another experienced wing, having played in 39 games during her first two seasons.
Fitzpatrick crashed the party last season, needing just three games to move into the starting lineup following the graduation of four-year starting point guard TJ Mills. She led the Beavers with 44 assists and was outstanding from beyond the arc, knocking down 24-of-49 for 49.0 percent. Fitzpatrick tallied 7.4 PPG while hitting 27-of-36 (75.0 percent) from the free throw line. Her 49 percent on triples was 2nd all-time for a single season. She finished with 24 steals and 3.7 RPG.
Fellow 2020-21 freshmen Angel Schneider (Columbus Grove) and Sydney Cavanaugh (Mansfield/St. Peter's) also saw significant minutes on the floor during their first season at Bluffton. Coach Shutler, who took home HCAC Coach of the Year honors for the second time in six years, will count heavily on his sophomores to take some of the load off Gillig, allowing the senior to face defenses that aren't able to load up the box against her.
Under Shutler's direction, the Beavers 19 regular-season games were tied for the second most played in NCAA Division III. COVID-19 kept much of the country from playing at all, but the Beavers hit the hardwood 20 times while following strict testing protocols throughout this unique season. He cleared another milestone in 2020-21, winning career game 200 while solidifying his place at the top of Bluffton's all-time victories list with 208 wins!
Bluffton kicks off its 2021-22 season when it welcomes Oberlin College for a 7 p.m. matchup in the Sommer Center on Saturday, Nov. 13. The McDonald's of Bluffton Holiday Classic returns after a one-year hiatus on December 29-30 with Geneva and St. Mary's on the docket for Wednesday and Thursday between Christmas and New Year's. The regular season will come to a close on Friday, Feb. 18, when rival Defiance makes its yearly pilgrimage to Bluffton as part of a women's and men's doubleheader.
Men's Basketball
The Bluffton University men's basketball team jumped out to a quick start while most of the country was on the sidelines when the 2020-21 season kicked off last fall. Bluffton rolled off 10 consecutive wins to open the season, shattering the school record of six wins to start a season, and putting the 2020-21 squad third all-time behind the 2005-06 and 2006-07 teams (11 wins in a row) for consecutive wins at any point of a season. The Beavers played in their fourth consecutive Heartland Conference tourney and Bluffton's 11 wins pushed Head Coach Guy Neal to 382 victories for his career!
Although the Beavers will be without the services of Dezman Brown, Aaron Rich and Ronnie James, who were all major contributors during their four years at Bluffton, All-Heartland Conference guard Jameel Cosby (Springfield/Kenton Ridge) returns for his final season on the hardwood. Cosby was one of just six players from the 10 Heartland Conference teams to be named First Team All-HCAC. He led the Beavers and was 6th in the conference with 15.8 PPG. The talented guard hit 86-of-178 from the field (48.3 percent), including 20-of-51 (39.2 percent) from distance.
Fellow senior Chad Frey (Lima/Bath) saw action in 10 games last season, scoring 10 points in Bluffton's season-opening 61-59 win over Adrian. Juniors Marcus Bruns (Coldwater) and Mike Ketner (Minster) both played starters' minutes in 2020-21. Ketner went for 6.2 PPG with 19 assists, while Bruns averaged 5.3 PPG and 4.3 RPG. He was almost perfect at the stripe, hitting 16-of-17 free throws for 94.1 percent. Ryan Rose (Tipp City/Bethel) and Nolan Finch (Toledo/Cardinal Stritch) also made contributions off the bench as sophomores.
Injuries limited Damian Davis (Bexley) last season, but when he was healthy, he was a load for opposing defenses. As a freshman in 2020-21, Davis netted 9.6 PPG with nine assists while shooting 94.1 percent at the free throw line (16-of-17). Michael Stammen (Versailles) gives the Beavers depth out front after hitting 5-of-9 from outside the arc.
Bluffton got it done on the defensive end once again in 2020-21. The Beavers allowed an HCAC-low 61.0 PPG, two fewer than they did in 2019-20 when their 63.0 PPG given up were second in the conference. Opponents hit just 42.7 percent from the floor, 2nd in the HCAC, and their 29.1 percent on triples was the lowest given up by any Heartland Conference squad. Bluffton also cleaned the glass with 34.7 RPG, 3rd-most in the league.
The Beavers travel to Alma College for the season opener on Tuesday, Nov. 9. They follow that up with a trip to Heidelberg eight days later. Miami-Middletown comes to town for the home opener on Saturday, Nov. 20. The Heartland Conference portion of the schedule is slated to go off on December 4 when Bluffton makes the long trip to Hanover College. With the holidays comes a return of the McDonald's of Bluffton Holiday Tournament hosted by the Beavers in the Sommer Center. Those games are slated for December 29-30. The regular season comes to a close on Friday, Feb. 18, when rival Defiance College makes its annual trip to Allen County.
