Buffs fall short in AAC final
Hot shooting from Emily Kiser and solid efforts from Kaely Gose and Halie Padgett were not enough as the Milligan College women’s basketball team’s Appalachian Athletic Conference tournament run ended in the championship game. The Buffaloes finished as the AAC tournament runner-up after a 60-46 loss to Union College Saturday at MeadowView Conference Resort and Convention Center.
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Milligan
15-19
|
14 | 7 | 13 | 12 | 46 |
|
Union
26-6
|
12 | 9 | 19 | 20 | 60 |
Team Stats
Union
| Game Statistics | Milligan | Union |
|---|---|---|
| Field Goals | (16-48) | (20-62) |
| Field Goal % | 33.3% | 32.3% |
| Rebounds | 38 | 39 |
| Assists | 10 | 14 |
| Turnovers | 20 | 7 |
| Pts off Turnovers | 4 | 27 |
| 2nd Chance Pts | 7 | 14 |
| Pts in the Paint | 24 | 41 |
| Fastbreak Pts | 2 | 0 |
| Bench Pts | 21 | 5 |
KINGSPORT, Tenn. (Feb. 29, 2020) – Hot shooting from Emily Kiser and solid efforts from Kaely Gose and Halie Padgett were not enough as the Milligan College women's basketball team's Appalachian Athletic Conference tournament run ended in the championship game. The Buffaloes finished as the AAC tournament runner-up after a 60-46 loss to Union College Saturday at MeadowView Conference Resort and Convention Center.
The loss snapped a three-game winning streak as Milligan had previously stormed through the postseason as the eight seed, upsetting the likes of No. 13 Bryan, the top seed, in the quarterfinals. Milligan, in the title game for the first time since 2015, was one win shy of an automatic bid to the NAIA Women's Basketball Championship.
Game tallies
Kiser went 7-for-10 from the field and 5-of-7 from three on the way to 19 points. She provided a few sparks for the Buffs, with two first-half makes swinging the lead in Milligan's favor and two second-half makes helping to keep the game close. Her final made 3-pointer cut Union's lead to four, 46-42, with five minutes left to go in the game, but the Bulldogs answered with the next 11 points over four minutes to pull away one final time.
Padgett (12 points, seven rebounds) and Gose (10 points, eight rebounds) were next in the scoring column as the only other Buffs in double figures.
First-half flow
It was a low-scoring affair through the first 20 minutes, as teams went into the locker room all knotted 21-21. Neither team led by more than five points, and it was Milligan that went ahead by five after a Gose free throw inside of seven minutes in the first quarter. Union then went on a 9-2 run over the next five minutes to take the lead, although a Kiser two made it a three-point Milligan lead with two minutes left in the first half.
Following Kiser's bucket, Union knocked down a three to tie the game at the half, then scored the first bucket of the second half to go into the lead for good.
All-tournament selections
Padgett and Gose earned spots on the AAC all-tournament team. Padgett led Milligan in scoring across the four tournament games with 15.0 points per game while Gose followed close behind with 14.8 points per game. Gose averaged a double-double with 11.8 rebounds per game, and Padgett averaged 7.8 rebounds per game.