Lady Buffs roll to 79-58 victory, Buffs fall to TC

By Matt Hill
STAR STAFF

   The Milligan women's basketball team might want to consider taking up tennis. On Tuesday night, the Lady Buffaloes were all aces.
   Every Lady Buffalo made the scorebook in Milligan's 79-58 rout over Southern Virginia at Steve Lacy Fieldhouse.
   Milligan dominated the entire contest, and led by as many as 35 points during the second half.
   Milligan shot 48 percent for the game, and 51 percent in the second half.
   "I felt like we shot it well, but I also felt like we really executed well," Milligan head coach Rich Aubrey said.
   By contrast, Southern Virginia shot a dismal 33 percent from the field against the Lady Buffaloes.
   "I was really pleased with our defense," Aubrey said. "I thought we did a really good job. We held (Liz) Weber to 10 points. She scored 38 against Pikeville Saturday, and she's a very good player. We did a really good job on her, and I think that made it difficult for them to get anything going offensively."
   Milligan had three players in double figures, but Aubrey thought that it was a total team effort.
   "Everybody who played scored," Aubrey said. "Everybody who played got at least one rebound. It was just one of those nights where everybody was doing what she was supposed to do. It was a very good team effort."
   Milligan did its job on the boards Tuesday night. The Lady Buffaloes totaled 50 rebounds.
   Milligan's Joy Clark shot the lights out in this one, as she went 7-of-8 from field goal range to end up with 14 points.
   Former Hampton standout Ginny White did her usual solid job of running the floor, but also packed a scoring punch. White finished the night with 13 points, 3 assists and seven rebounds.
   "She's responded," Aubrey said. "She gave us a little bit of everything tonight. She scored when she needed to score, but she made sure everybody else got the ball. When you have as balanced scoring as we had tonight, the point guard must be doing her job."
   White wasn't known for her scoring when she played for the legendary Doug Phillips at Hampton, but has seen the need to start doing that in her freshman year at Milligan.
   "I guess in high school I really didn't think I had to do it," White said. "I guess I kind of depended on other people. The coaches told me I would have to be a scorer, so I guess I just realized I can do it and I decided I was going to do it."
   Amanda Hammons poured in 12, while Kristin Kirkvleit added nine for Milligan.
   Rachel Robbins topped Southern Virginia with 16 points.
   Milligan was coming off three defeats last week, and the loss of Nicky Jessen due to an ankle injury. This made White and the rest of the Lady Buffaloes very hungry.
   "I believe all of us were ready to win," White said. "After losing three last week we were definitely ready to win. We needed it. I think it will help for the remainder of this week."
   Milligan improves to 8-14, while Southern Virginia drops to 11-10
  
Men's

Tusculum 52
Milligan 45

   While the Milligan women's team shot the lights out, the men didn't have that same good fortune.
   Milligan shot only 32 percent for the contest.
   The Pioneers really emphasize defense, and it showed Tuesday night.
   "It's something that all through my coaching has been a main focus," Tusculum head coach Griff Mills said. "It's the one thing that when you don't have the most talented guys, but when you have guys who are tough kids and play hard, it's always going to give you a chance every night if you play good defense."
   It was the ninth time this season that Tusculum (9-10) has held a team to under 50 points in a game.
   Milligan led 19-14 with 3:43 to go in the first half, but a 6-1 spurt by Tusculum tied the game at 20-20 going into the locker room. Tusculum heated up just enough in the second half to lead the whole frame.
   Milligan head coach Tony Wallingford thought the Pioneers dictated the tempo in this one.
   "You've got to be able to win in a variety of styles," Wallingford said. "Everybody doesn't run and gun. Everybody doesn't play the game in the '70s or '80s. They like the game in the 50's, and we knew that going in. I thought we did an excellent job in the first half, we just had some lapses."
   Lance Ashby topped Milligan with 12 points, but shot 4-of-19 from the field.
   Jonathan Shepard scored 12 to lead Tusculum.
   Milligan drops to 8-13 on the year. Both Milligan squads will host Virginia Intermont Thursday.