Berea, KY- The Mountaineers grabbed a commanding 79-45 win over Mount St. Joseph University in their season home-opener on Tuesday night.
After a slow start to the game, the teams started trading baskets as the opening minutes lessened. However, midway through the first quarter Berea's defense clamped down going on a big run to end the first quarter with six separate Mountaineers finding the basket in the quarter, ending with a 18-9 advantage.
Berea came out in the second quarter looking to extend their lead as they opened the quarter on a 17-5 run thanks to pair of three pointers from Kristen Barnes and Jaime Roberts, making their lead 35-14. The scoring output for the Mountaineers continued as Berea scored 10 more points to go into the intermission with a 45-24 advantage.
The Lions found the basket early to begin the second half, but the Mountaineers' smothering defense returned out of the break, holding their opponents scoreless for three minutes. Roberts' jump shot at the 5:28 mark pushed the Berea lead to 30 points, 61-31. Bre Sims jump shot helped the Mountaineers head to the final quarter with a 67-36 lead. Roberts scored nine points in the third quarter.
Berea opened the fourth quarter with a three-point basket from Kiley Barnard to increase their advantage to 34 points. Four straight points from Barnes helped the Mountaineers reached their highest lead in the game at 39 points, 77-38. Berea only allowed nine points in the quarter and went on to win 79-45, beginning the season 1-0.
Jamie Roberts ended with a game high 19 points and ultimately four Mountaineers ended the game with double digit scoring in the convincing win over Mount St. Joseph University. Barnard and Bri Lanham finished tied in rebounds with eight, including five offensive rebounds for Barnard. Lanham was the team leader in assists with six.
Berea returns to action this Saturday, November 19th as they travel to Wooster, OH to compete in the Nan Nichols Classic at Wooster College. The team will play the host team, Wooster College at 3:00 PM. Live video can be seen here. To view live stats, click here.