BLOOMFIELD, N.J. - The Bloomfield College Bears women's basketball team committed twenty-three turnovers and saw the Yellow Jackets of AIC shoot 52.0% from the field in the second half to come back and win a 68-60 non-conference battle Saturday afternoon. The Bears led 31-29 at halftime but could not hold on as AIC swarmed for thirteen turnovers in the second stanza to pull out the victory. The loss drops Bloomfield to 2-2 on the young season while the Yellow Jackets improve to 2-3 overall and 0-2 in NE-10 conference play.
Sophomore guard,
Tianna Smith (Nanuet, N.Y.) led the charge for the Bears, pouring in a game-high seventeen points on the day while fellow classmate
Morgan Taylor (Paterson, N.J.) went for thirteen points on 5-for-11 shooting from the field. Junior,
Iman Williams (Chesapeake, Va.) came in off the bench to post ten points to go along with a team-high eight boards. For the Yellow Jackets, center Kamika Mason in a reserve roll managed to snag a game-high nine rebounds on the afternoon, with Krista Ferrentino and Brianna Bishop shouldering the offense, netting thirteen and twelve points respectively.
Bloomfield controlled the game early, taking a 10-5 lead on a Taylor jumper just 5:08 in. After the Yellow Jackets slowly built a three point advantage (15-12), two free throws by Taylor pushed the lead back to five at 31-26 with 2:02 remaining in the opening half. Ferrentino would score the last three points of the half with a lay up in the paint and 1-of-2 from the charity stripe for AIC to trim the lead to 31-29 at the break.
The Bears came out of the lockeroom flat and AIC took advantage reeling off the second half's first eleven points to build a 40-31 lead with 15:29 on the clock. The margin ballooned to thirteen (50-37) after a Bishop 3-pointer tickled the bottom of the net for the NE-10 visitors. Bloomfield would dig deep to find a spark in front of the home crowd but were unable to trim the deficit to any less than five points the rest of the way with AIC out pacing the Bears 39-29 for the second period.
AIC outshot Bloomfield, 47.4 percent (27-57) to 42.9 percent (24-56), including 57.1 percent (4-7) to 27.8 percent (5-18) from long distance. The Yellow Jackets swarmed at the line, shooting 21 free throws but only converted 10 (47.6%), leaving the Bears a slight advantage at 7-for-14 (50.0%). AIC also won the battle on the boards (36-34), leading to a 32-26 edge in the paint and turning it over fewer times (18) than Bloomfield (23).
The Bears return to action Wednesday, Dec. 3 at 6:00 p.m. when they host crosstown rival, Caldwell University. It marks the first meeting of the teams since Bloomfield defeated the Cougars on their home floor for the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference championship back in March. Stay up-to-date with the latest news, including game previews and recaps, from the Bloomfield College athletic department by liking us on Facebook and following us on Twitter or Instagram @GO_BCBears.
