Women's Basketball Struggles To Find Shooting Touch Against Blackburn

ST. LOUIS, Mo.—The Fontbonne University women's basketball team were unable to overcome its cold shooting night from downtown with the Griffins falling 66-60 against Blackburn.

Final: Blackburn 66, Fontbonne 60

How it Happened

It was a slow start for both teams in the first with each shooting under 29.0 percent from the floor. In the second quarter, the Griffins grabbed the 15-14 lead with 7:37 remaining on Rylee Stafford's jumper.

Trailing 19-18 at 3:59, the Griffins closed out the half on a 12-3 run to lead by eight at the break. After shooting 28.0 percent in the first, the Griffins bounced back going 6-of-14 (42.9 percent) from the floor in the second and held the Beavers to just an 18.8 field goal percentage.

In the third, the back-and-forth play continued but with Rylee Stafford hitting all three of her free throws after getting fouled on her attempt the Griffins were on top, 43-40 with 3:30 to go. They maintained that marginal lead and went into the fourth ahead by four (47-43).

At 7:21, the Griffins expanded its lead out to 56-47 after Riley Guffey connected on her 3-pointer. At 5:22, the Griffins still led 60-51 after Stafford's bucket but the team wouldn't be able to find its shooting touch with Blackburn finishing the final minutes off on a 15-0 run for the six-point win.

Head-to-Head

• Both teams finished with a 35.7 field goal percentage.
• After hitting 11 3-pointers against Greenville, the Griffins went just 4-of-31 (12.9 percent) from downtown.
• The Beavers owned a 43-38 advantage on the glass and its bench outscored Fontbonne, 17-7.

Fontbonne Leaders

• Rylee Stafford led with 15 points on 6-of-18 shooting. She moved up to sixth all-time in program history with 1,110 career points. She surpassed Laurie Kralemann (1995-98) with 1,084.
• Riley Guffey ended with 13 points, while Kya Harbour added 11.
• Jillian Venegas finished with six points and a game-high 11 boards.

Up Next

The team returns to action this Friday night when they'll visit Iowa Wesleyan. Tip-off at 5:30 p.m.

Fans make sure to stay updated on fontbonnegriffins.com throughout the year for full updates on the women's basketball team.

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