Women’s Basketball earns 20th win at Montreat

MONTREAT, N.C. (February 14, 2024) – The Milligan University women's basketball team earned a 84-64 victory at Montreat for the Buffs' sixth-straight win on Wednesday evening.

Milligan notches its second 20-win season under coach Kylie Russell Greer as the Buffs move to 20-6 overall and 17-3 in Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) play. Montreat entered the day fifth in the 15-team AAC standings and fell to 16-10, 13-7 AAC.

The Buffs built a six-point edge (12-6) midway through the first quarter after a Lauren Longmire trey. The Cavaliers worked the margin down to 16-14 in the final minute of the period and Milligan took a 17-14 edge into the second quarter after a free throw by Semaj Clark.

Montreat drained a pair of three-pointers early in the second quarter to take a 20-19 lead. The Buffs responded by scoring the next 16 points while holding Montreat off the scoreboard for over four minutes of game time. Kenzie Campbell, Clark and Jaycie Jenkins each canned threes in the spurt and Lina Lyon had a pair of fastbreak layups as Milligan took a 39-22 lead. The Buffs led by 16 (43-27) at the halftime break.

McKenna Myers had a three-point play and Halie Padgett scored on back-to-back possessions to stretch Milligan's lead to 56-34 with six minutes left in the third. The Cavs scored 10-straight points to trim their deficit to 56-44 with four minutes remaining in the period. Clarke ended the run with a three as the Buffs scored the next seven points and Milligan led 65-47 at the end of the third.

Montreat made three three-pointers in the first four minutes of the fourth quarter to cut Milligan's lead to 75-62. The Buffs scored nine of the next 11 points with Jenkins' three with 1:18 left in regulation putting the Buffs up 84-64, the game's final score.

Padgett finished with 22 points and four rebounds. Jenkins added 20 points and five rebounds. Longmire posted 16 points, six rebounds and eight assists. Clark had a dozen points and four assists. Lyon had eight points and three rebounds off Milligan's bench.

The Buffs shot 56.1 percent from the field. Milligan won the rebounding battle 36-32 and had a 7-5 edge in the turnover margin.

Milligan travels to Bluefield next Wednesday.