Bulldogs squeak out 67-60 win at Brown Tuesday

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Behind Breanna Rucker's (Cincinnati, Ohio) fourth-straight double double, the Bryant University women's basketball team took down in-state foe Brown, 67-60, Tuesday night at the Pizzatola Center.

The Bulldogs (4-1) fought back from an early hole, overcoming a tough shooting night to take down the Bears (1-3) in their home opener.

Rucker was once again the most dominant player on the floor, putting up a career-high 26 points on 8-of-16 shooting and 11 rebounds for her fourth consecutive double double. Junior guard Tiersa Winder (Baltimore, Md.) added 13 points and four rebounds, while freshman Ivory Bailey (Wyomissing, Pa.) put up 12 points and a career-best eight boards in just 23 minutes of action.

Senior point guard Jenniqua Bailey (Bloomfield, Conn.) finished with nine points, five rebounds, and four assists despite battling foul trouble, while sophomore center Morgan Olander (Mansfield, Conn.) posted five points and a career-high 14 boards.

Sophie Bikofsky paced Brown with 21 points on 5-of-9 shooting from long range while Jordin Alexander finished with 18 points.

Playing in front of its home crowd for the first time this season, Brown wasted little time jumping out to quick 16-6 lead, on 7-of-9 shooting, less than five minutes into the contest. Bryant fought back cutting the deficit to just four but the Bulldogs struggled to get in rhythm offensively, finding themselves behind, 27-18, at the under-eight media break.

Seven-straight points from Rucker brought the Black and Gold back within a bucket, 27-25, but an Alexander 3-pointer put the Bears back up five with just under four minutes to play until halftime. Ivory Bailey and Bikofsky traded baskets through the 90-second mark, but it was Brown who took a 36-31 lead into the locker room.

Bikofsky led all scorers with 14 points on 4-of-5 shooting from deep, while Ivory Bailey and Rucker combined for 23 of Bryant's 31 first half points.

A 6-0 run to open the half helped the Bulldogs to their first lead of the game, 37-36, at the 17:35 mark, extending the advantage to four points until an Elise Sharpe and-one brought Brown back within a point, 44-43, with 11 minutes left on the clock.

Off the free throw,  Bryant went on a 10-2 run to open its largest lead of the night, 54-45, until Bikofsky's fifth trifecta of the game closed the gap to just six with nine minutes to play.

After some back-and-forth play, the Bulldogs gap remained slim, but steady, up 60-54 at the final media break of the contest. Brown cut the margin to just four in the final two minutes but a Winder 3-pointer upped lead to seven, which was too much for the Bears to overcome as Bryant hung out for the 67-60 victory.

Looking ahead, Bryant will have a few days of rest over the Thanksgiving break before returning to action on Sunday when Providence College visits Smithfield. Tip is set for 1 p.m.