Women’s Basketball survives upset bid at Union

BARBOURVILLE, Ky. (January 25, 2023) – The Milligan University women's basketball survived an upset bid by Union and emerged with a 64-59 road victory on Wednesday evening.

The Buffs got back into the win column to move to 15-5 on the season and 13-3 in Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) league play. Union falls to 3-16, 3-12 AAC.

The Bulldogs were the early aggressors and opened up a nine-point lead (15-6) in the game's first six minutes. The Buffs scored the final seven points with Lauren Longmire draining a three-pointer in the final minute to tie the game at 17 after 10 minutes of action.

Neither team gained much separation through the first half of the second quarter and the score was tied at 27 with four minutes to play in the half. Kaylee Hendrickson, Kayla Romines and Jaycie Jenkins each sank a trey in the final minutes of the quarter to give Milligan a 38-34 halftime lead.

Milligan's lead grew to double-digits (49-38) after a 7-0 run with Longmire scoring five straight points. The Bulldogs crept back within four (53-49) with just under three minutes left in the quarter before Milligan score the final five points of the quarter to lead 58-49 going into the fourth.

For the second-straight game the Buffs had a lengthy drought in the fourth as Milligan was outscored 8-2 over the first six minutes of the quarter as the Bulldogs narrowed the margin to three points (60-57).

Longmire drove into the paint and dropped off a pass to Emma Harig on the right block who converted a layup with 3:19 remaining. After two Bulldogs foul shots, Longmire sank two free throws of her own to keep Milligan ahead 64-59 with 2:41 to play. The Buffs kept Union off the scoreboard the rest of the way to hold on for the five-point win.

Longmire paced Milligan with 17 points and four rebounds. Romines and Jenkins had nine points apiece. Hendrickson chipped in with seven points.

The Buffs won the rebounding battle 37-30 and turned 11 offensive rebounds in 20 second chance points. Milligan's bench recorded 28 points on the evening.

Milligan heads to Montreat on Saturday for a 2:00 p.m. tip-off.