You could hear the roar of school spirit coming from the Luce on Dec. 3 as Asbury’s men’s and women’s basketball teams played against the Brescia Bearcats.
The women’s team took the lead and beat Brescia 86-81. “We came out kinda slow, and we underestimated their pace of play, but once we got our heads right and ready to play, we got in the groove and were ready to fight for the dub,” said junior Nave Winn. As an added bonus to the win, junior Kelsey Johnson celebrated her 1,000 career points in this game.
This was a thrilling game for the Eagles; to add to the excitement, after the game the women’s assistant coach, Matt Hilkens, proposed to his girlfriend on the court in a preplanned free throw contest. Students said the team was in on the plan; junior Paige Miller said, “It was super cute. I could have cried.”
Asbury’s men’s basketball took on Brescia later than evening in a hard fought battle that ultimately resulted in defeat. The Eagles started the game strong and were up by one at the half. It was a close game; when they found themselves down by six, senior Siah Holifield stepped up to hit back-to-back three’s and gave the Eagles a 51-49 lead.
Asbury opened up the floodgates early in the second half taking a 12 point lead, thanks to junior Leander Ridgeway. But celebrations were cut short when Brescia scored 12 straight points to tie the game at 96 and take it to overtime. Ultimately, the Eagles fell short in overtime by one point; the final score was 111-112.
Sophomore Bethany Fye said, “It was the most stressful thing I have ever watched.”
