Women’s basketball suffers narrow loss on senior day

MILLIGAN COLLEGE, Tenn. (Feb. 22, 2020) – Halie Padgett registered her seventh double-double of the season, but a strong second half by visiting St. Andrews University led the Milligan College women's basketball team to a 78-74 loss Saturday afternoon at Steve Lacy Fieldhouse in the regular-season finale.

Milligan spotted St. Andrews the first nine points of the game but led by as many as 12 in the first half. The Buffs later saw their lead go away for the last time with six minutes to go in the game. Padgett had made a pair of free throws to make it a 3-point lead, but a 3-pointer by St. Andrews on the next possession followed by a 2-pointer on the next possession after that gave the Knights the final lead.

Milligan managed to tie the game on two more occasions before St. Andrews finished on a 9-5 run. Five of their points during that run came from the free throw line.

Padgett led the Buffs in the scoring column as one of four Milligan players in double figures. Lily Griffith followed with 15 points, Bailey Berry matched her career high with 11, thanks to a 3-for-5 effort from the perimeter, and Kaely Gose, who scored her 1,000th collegiate point at Bryan earlier this week, finished with 10. Gose added seven rebounds, seven assists, two blocks and three steals, and moved her career Milligan scoring total to 992 points.

Up next, Milligan competes in the Appalachian Athletic Conference tournament Wednesday in the opening round against Truett McConnell University. The Buffs defeated Truett 74-58 at Steve Lacy Fieldhouse in the only meeting of the season. The game will be the first of the day and is set for 1 p.m. at MeadowView Conference Resort and Convention Center in Kingsport. With a win, Milligan would play top-seeded and No. 14-ranked Bryan Thursday at 12 p.m. in the third game of the day.