MARIETTA, Ga. – Life University (3-3) dropped a 73-68 heartbreaker to Reinhardt (3-0) in their home opener on Friday.
"This was a frustrating loss tonight," Head Coach
Anthony Maxwell said. "We are not closing out games. We didn't get stops when we had to, or rebounds. We had good effort that was just wasted at times. It was a very even game across the board, all stats were even, except [Reinhardt] shot almost double the free throws. We have a tough game tomorrow against a good Point University team that just knocked off No. 25 Talladega. We have to forget about this one and be ready for tomorrow."
Sophomores
Lucy Stone and
Kayla Kelly paced the squad with 13 points apiece. Stone added five assists, four steals and a rebound, while Kelly added six rebounds, two assists, a block and a steal.
Sophomore
Tierra Lindsey contributed 12 points, as well as two rebounds and assist.
Reinhardt come out hot as they jumped out to a 6-2 lead in the first two minutes. Life U battled back and found their groove as they took the lead 9-8 midway through the quarter. From there, they never trailed for the remainder of the period. At its height, the Running Eagles led by seven points at 17-10 with 3:20 left in the quarter. They closed out the period with a 20-17 lead.
Life U didn't trail in the second quarter as they pushed their lead to 23-17 in the opening minutes. The visiting Eagles kept chipping away and managed to trim the lead to 23-21 with 6:51 left in the half. The Running Eagles answered back and pushed the lead back out to 28-22 with 4:10 remaining. RU came back once again and cut the lead to 31-30 heading into the half.
The third quarter was a bit of a mess, with both teams working their selves into foul trouble. The visiting Eagles took the lead for the first time since the third quarter at 35-34 just under two and half minutes into the half. RU went on a 9-2 run to take a 44-36 lead at 4:36, with seven of those points coming on free throws. Both teams spent large chunks of time at the charity stripe in the quarter. RU was 14-for-21 from the free throw line in the third quarter alone, compared to Life U's 6-for-10. Reinhardt sent the game to the fourth quarter with a 53-49 lead.
Life U was able to regain the lead briefly at the start of the final quarter at 59-58. Unfortunately, the visiting Eagles would retake the lead 61-59 and never relinquish it again. The Running Eagles would keep the score close for the remainder of the game and had a chance to win it at 71-68. However, fouls once again would come back to haunt the home team as Reinhardt would take a 73-68 victory with two made free throws in the final 16 seconds.
Life U is back in action tomorrow, Nov. 11 as they face off against Point University at 2 p.m. in the Eagles' Nest.
