BLINN WOMEN OPEN WITH UPSET OVER #11 MCLENNAN
With its offense stuck in neutral, the Blinn College women's basketball team pushed its defense into overdrive.
It was that effective shift which provided the Buccaneers with a stunning 67-65 overtime upset of No. 11 McLennan Community College in both teams' season opener Wednesday at the Kruse Center in Brenham, Texas.
Blinn trailed by 18 points (57-39) with 43 seconds to go in the third quarter, and instead of stalling out, pushed the pedal to the metal with a blanketing man-to-man defense. The ensuing effort resulted in a 20-2 run for the hosts that tied the game 59-59 ahead of a five-minute overtime period. The Bucs allowed just six total points across the final 15:43 of play (third period through overtime) and rode its smothering defense to victory in the extra quarter.
"We made plays when we had to and we were competitive," Blinn head coach Jeff Jenkins said. "We played 11 people; we were able to sub a couple different groups in, and I think that allowed us to wear McLennan down a little bit. We had 11 good players who played tonight, and they all contributed."
The victory marked the second consecutive season opener for the Bucs in which they defeated McLennan in overtime. Blinn was forced to rally from a large deficit to top the Highlassies in Waco, Texas, in 2022, and demonstrated a similar resilience Wednesday.
Trailing 57-39 in the third quarter, freshman guard Jonesha Neal ignited Blinn's run with a 3-pointer. The move continued into the fourth as freshman guard Ja'Nya Thomas scored on a layup. Sophomore guard Tianna Mathis added a bucket and Neal grabbed an assist from sophomore forward Jasmyn Jackson and turned it into a layup to make it 57-48.
The Highlassies interrupted the push with a jumper at the 4:22 mark, but that would prove to be their last bucket of regulation. Freshman guard Chelsy Singleton rebooted Blinn's rally with a layup as the Bucs went on to score the next 11 points to force overtime.
Mathis tied the game on a putback after securing a rebound with about one minute remaining.
"We faced adversity, and we had to learn to take the punches and keep rolling," Mathis said. "We weren't hitting our shots for a little while, so we had to defend. Defense can win games; it's not always going to be your offense. And if you can keep the other team from scoring and do enough to get ahead, you can win games like we did tonight."
McLennan never led in overtime, missing a chance to take the first lead with a pair of missed free throws early in the period. Instead, it was Blinn who surged ahead with a driving layup from Thomas and a jumper from Singleton. The Bucs grabbed their biggest cushion of overtime, 64-59, on a free throw from Singleton.
The Highlassies would battle back and cut the Blinn advantage to 66-65, but Neal made one free throw with 4.9 seconds to go. McLennan's final shot of the game, a mid-range jumper near the free throw line, was blocked as the buzzer sounded.
"It all came down to having a resilient mentality," Singleton said. "It was about being willing to work, work, work until the game was over and not stopping until the final buzzer sounded."
Singleton led the way offensively for the Bucs with a team-high 22 points. Mathis had 10 and Neal and freshman guard Nala Richardson each had eight.
Blinn led 21-17 at the end of the first quarter, trailed 40-31 at the half, and faced a 57-42 hole after three quarters.
"I think we're only going to get better," Jenkins added. "We made a lot of mistakes tonight on defense, we took a lot of bad shots offensively, and we're not where we need to be yet. So, to win a game like this when we're not anywhere near where we want to be as a team, that's an accomplishment and something to build on going forward."
(Story by Joe Alberico, Blinn College Sports Information)