Milligan College, Tenn. (Jan. 5, 2011) --- The Milligan College women's basketball team saw a late rally come up short as they fell 62-60 to Tennessee Wesleyan College on Wednesday evening inside Steve Lacy Fieldhouse.

The opening of the first half saw the teams stay even throughout the opening minutes. However, the Lady Buffs went on a 6-0 run sparked by Tracy Hardiman (Maryville, Tenn.) to pull out to a five point lead five minutes into the game.

Milligan maintained that advantage for most of the half before Heather Mandela (Fairfax, Va.) scored four straight points to give the Lady Buffs a 10 point lead with five minutes remaining. However, Tennessee Wesleyan closed the half on an 8-0 run to close the Milligan lead to 33-31 at the half.

The second half saw Milligan maintain a 35-33 advantage five minutes into the period. The Lady Bulldogs used a 14-0 run midway through the half gave TWC a 54-41 lead with five minutes remaining. Johneshia Good (Johnson City, Tenn.) scored 12 points in the closing minutes to help pull the Lady Buffs within two points, but that was as close as Milligan could get before time expired.

The Lady Buffs were led by Mandela, who had 19 points. Good finished the game with 15 points and four assists, while Dorian Freeman (Augusta, Ga.) added seven points. Good also led the Lady Buffs with eight rebounds.

As a team, Milligan was 24-of-67 (36%) from the field and 6-of-21 (67%) from the 3-point line, while the Lady Bulldogs were 22-of-56 (39%) from the floor and 4-of-21 (19%) from behind the arc.

“We are not playing well right now,” Head Coach Rich Aubrey said. “That's no slam on Wesleyan because they did what they had to do to win. Both teams can play better, and I know both teams can shoot better. It came down to the little things there at the end, and we didn't do enough of those little things to get us over the hump.”

With the loss, Milligan drops to 11-5 on the year.

The Lady Buffs return to action on Saturday, Jan. 8, when they host Bluefield College for their second AAC matchup of the season. Tipoff is slated for 2 p.m.