Martinez, Ross power Bruins past Midland

BELLEVUE, Neb. -- Faith Ross scored a game-high 24 points and Elexis Martinez scored 23 points and hauled in 12 rebounds to lead the Bellevue University women's basketball team to their third-straight victory as the Bruins defeated Midland University, 78-69, on Friday afternoon at the Gordon Lozier Athletic Center.

Records:

(RV) Bellevue: 3-1
Midland: 1-2

Recap: Bellevue 78, Midland 69

After falling behind by as many as eight points in the second quarter the Bruins rallied to tie the game by halftime and go on a run out of the break to seize control of the game and pick up their first victory over Midland in three tries.

Both teams traded blows early one with neither finding a two-possession lead until the 35-second mark in the first quarter when a basket from Erin Prusa gave Midland a 19-13 lead after one period.

After shooting at a 46.7 percent clip through the first quarter, the Bellevue defense frustrated the Warriors into a 17-55 (30.9 percent) effort the rest of the way.

Midland stretched their lead to eight points twice in the second quarter, following layups from Makenna Sullivan and Katy Gathje but the Bruins hung around.

Trailing 37-30 with under two minutes to play in the half, Elexis Martinez sank a pair of free throws and Laura Jurek made a layup on consecutive possessions. Following a Martinez block on the other end, Faith Ross nailed a trey with 35 seconds left in the half as BU and Midland entered the half tied at 37-all.

Amanda Hansen scored a layup off a Bruin turnover but Bellevue ran off five-straight points to take a lead they would not relinquish.

Bellevue dominated the third quarter, out-scoring Midland 22-12 to take a 10-point lead into the final period of play.

Leading 59-49 after three quarters of play, the Bruins opened the fourth quarter on an 11-3 run, capped by a Ross three-pointer that gave the Bruins their largest lead of the game at 70-52 with 6:21 to play in the game.

Bellevue out-scored Midland 40-15 over 15 minutes and 20 seconds of game time in a run that spanned from late in the second quarter until midway through the fourth.

The Warriors rattled off 10-straight points from there to cut the BU lead to just 70-62 with 1:44 remaining in the game.

Bellevue knocked down their final eight free throw attempts, all in the final 1:07, to hang on for the nine-point victory.

Martinez scored BU's first six points on Friday en route to scoring 23 and pulling down 12 rebounds to go along with a trio of blocked shots.

Ross led all scorers with 24 points, sinking 5-of-9 three-point attempts while grabbing four boards and dishing our four assists. Jamie Winkler was the third Bruin in double figures, finishing with 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting to go along with three assists.

Taeha Pankey and Jerrene Richardson each scored seven for Bellevue with Pankey dishing out a game-best six assists.

Hansen led three Midland players in double figures with 13 points. Prusa and Lexis Haase scored 12 and 10 off the bench, respectively.

Bellevue shot at least 40 percent in each of the game's four quarters to finish at 49.1 percent for the game.

Up Next:

Bellevue wraps up play in the BU/NCC Classic tomorrow afternoon with a 1 p.m. tip-off against Cottey College. The Comets downed Nebraska Christian 78-69 earlier on Friday afternoon.