Trojans Rally for Season-Opening Win

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UPLAND, Ind. – The Taylor University women's basketball team overcame a poor shooting performance and 19 turnovers with a strong fourth quarter to rally past Northwestern Ohio for a 53-50 season-opening victory at Paul Patterson Court on Saturday afternoon.

The Trojans made only 14 field goals in the contest, connecting on only 29.2 percent of their attempts from the floor and committed 19 turnovers against the Racers defense. TU also faced a 26-6 deficit in the paint and were outscored 19-0 off the bench.

Despite the statistical struggles, TU dominated the fourth quarter to secure the win. Taylor outscored UNOH in the final 10 minutes by a 17-9 margin by holding the guests to three baskets and six turnovers in the final period. The Trojans countered with seven makes from the charity stripe as a team and 12 points from All-American Kendall Bradbury to pull out the win.

The pivotal stretch came midway through the fourth quarter, with UNOH holding a 46-40 edge with 6:04 left in the game. Taylor rattled off the next eight points and closed the game on a 13-4 spurt.

Back-to-back triples from Aubrey Wright and Bradbury ignited the run and drew TU even at 46-46 with 4:44 to play and a pair of Cassidy Wyse free throws capped the eight-point run and gave Taylor its first lead since holding an 18-16 edge in the second quarter.

The Racers cut the gap to a single point twice in the closing minutes, including once with five seconds to play in the game. Bradbury knocked down a pair of free throws to push the spread to three with three ticks remaining and UNOH's game-tying attempt from the corner at the horn bounced off the iron to seal the comeback win for the Trojans.

Taylor, who received votes in the NAIA Top-25 Preseason Poll, trailed by as many as 11 in the game, before closing on a 28-14 stretch over the final 15:56 of game action.

Bradbury led all players with 27 points and 10 rebounds to notch her 15th game of at least 20 points in her young career and her fifth double-double. The sophomore has now scored in double figures in 30 of her 32 career contests, including 24 in a row.

Wright ended the game with nine points and four rebounds, with Josie Cobb adding eight points to go with six boards. Lacey Garrett ended with six points and three assists, while Wyse notched five steals, four boards and two assists to go with three points.

RV Taylor (1-0) will face a road challenge on Thursday, November 3, when it heads to Fort Wayne for a game at RV Indiana Tech at 7:00 pm.