Milligan College, Tenn. (Jan. 20, 2010) --- The Milligan College women's basketball team won a hard fought battle Wednesday night at home against the Tennessee Wesleyan Lady Bulldogs 74-61.

In the first half, the game stayed pretty even the whole way with Milligan leading at halftime 30-25. From the floor, Milligan shot 11-of-23 (48%) and 3-of-7 (43%) from the 3-point line, while the Lady Bulldogs shot 8-of-23 (35%) from the field and 5-of-11 (46%) from beyond the arc.

The Lady Bulldogs and Lady Buffs continued to trade baskets in the second half until Milligan broke open the scoring with a 10-0 run with just 10 minutes remaining in the contest. The Lady Buffs kept the lead the rest of the game by hitting clutch free throws down the stretch.

For the game, Milligan shot 18-of-25 (72%) from the free throw line in the second half and 23-of-32 (72%) for the game. The Lady Bulldogs only shot 9-of-11 (82%) for the game.

Leading the way for the Lady Buffs was junior center Heather Mandela (Fairfax, Va.) who pitched in 20 points and eight rebounds. Also adding some offense for the Lady Buffs was Jamiee Hill (Johnson City, Tenn.) with 13 points and seven rebounds, while Samantha Blevins (Spruce Pine, N.C.) added 11 points. Senior point guard, Brit White (Chuckey, Tenn.), chipped in 10 points and four assists.

“It was a very tough game,” said Head Coach Rich Aubrey. “I thought we rebounded the ball extremely well for the ball game. In the second half, we did a much better job getting the ball inside to our post players.”

Leading the way for the Lady Bulldogs was Katie Blevins with 13 points and Amy Jo Castor added 10 points.

With the win, the Lady Buffs improve to 13-8 and a league best 6-2, while the Lady Bulldogs slip to 8-11 and 3-5 in the league.

Up next for Milligan, the Lady Buffs travel to Montreat (N.C.) College as they take on the Lady Cavs on Saturday, Jan. 23, for 5:30 p.m. tip-off.