Women's Hoops Cruises Past Oglethorpe 71-50

The Austin College women's basketball team got spark off the bench from Kendall Heitmeier and the 'Roos had a season low eight turnovers on their way to an easy 71-50 victory over visiting Oglethorpe University on Saturday afternoon. The 'Roos are now 4-4 overall this season with the win.

Erin Riley got the 'Roos off to a fast start with a pair of threes to make it 8-2 less than two minutes in, but after a pair of free throws from Christina Kime made it 14-7 the Stormy Petrels scored the next seven to square things up with 12:53 left in the half. However, Heitmeier hit the first of her three triples to break the tie, and two foul shots from Heitmeier pushed it to a 28-17 lead with 4:47 on the clock.

Oglethorpe battled back to make it a 30-25 game before Kime scored four straight, and Paige Picciotti knocked down a baseline jumper with eight seconds left to send Austin College into the locker room leading 36-27. 

After Oglethorpe trimmed it to a 40-33 game early in the second, Heitmeier drilled another three and followed that up with a layup, and Kime made two free throws to extend the Austin College lead to 49-35 with 11:32 left to play. Heitmeier made her third three pointer and added another bucket to make it 54-40 with 9:30 left, and baskets by Kime, Briana Harvey, and Chrissy Ray pushed the margin to 67-42 with three minutes left.

Ray and Danielle Wright would each get a bucket to help the 'Roos cruise to the 21 point victory. Austin College had 18 team assists, their second highest total of the year, and came away with 10 steals and six blocked shots. They also had a 46-36 edge in rebounds, including grabbing 15 offensive boards.

Heitmeier hit 3-of-5 from deep on her way to a career-high 15 points and Kime finished with 15 and seven assists. Riley scored 10 and added eight rebounds, just missing out on what would have been her second straight double-double. Britany Stepanski scored nine and Ray added eight and four blocks in the win.

McKenzie Fortson was the lone Oglethorpe player in double digits, scoring 12 in the loss. Austin College held the Stormy Petrels to just 29.6% shooting from the field.