Basketball Falls in SSAC Tournament

The Brenau basketball team came up short in the 2017 Southern States Athletic Conference tournament with a 74-60 loss to the University of Mobile (Ala.) on Thursday in Montgomery.

After a highly competitive 20-15 first quarter, the Golden Tigers offense struggled to finish shots in the second quarter by scoring only five points in the period. With only two second left before halftime, the Rams' Kali Koenig hit a deep three-pointer to cap off a 17-5 in the period and give Mobile a 37-20 lead.

After the intermission, Brenau went on a 10-0 run to cut the Rams' lead to seven and cause the Rams to call a timeout. On the ensuing possession, the Golden Tigers got a steal, but missed a fast break, which would have cut the lead to five points. While in transition, Mobile point guard Sydney Westry found Koenig for her eighth three pointer to increase their lead back to 10.

In the fourth quarter, back-to-back three pointers by Briah Woods and Sydney Haas once again got the deficit to single digits, but again the Rams answered to pull away with the win.

"We played beautifully to start the game," said head coach Kris Stewart. "However, we just had a bad quarter, which ended up being the difference. We outscored Mobile in the second half, and made two really strong runs, but just came up short".

"This team has had an outstanding season, including setting the program record (18) for wins. I couldn't be any more proud of what they have accomplished."

Woods led Brenau with 17 points, while Dodson added 11 points. Jasmine Knight contributed five points, nine rebounds and four assists and Haas put up seven points and six rebounds.

Koenig led all scorers with 28 points.

Brenau (18-11 overall), which returns 12 letter winners next season, also looks ahead to playing in the Appalachian Athletic Conference.