MADISON, Wis. - The Rockford University women's basketball team fell to the Edgewood College Eagles 74-65 on Saturday afternoon despite winning in nearly every statistical category. The Regents shot a better percentage from the floor (45.6%/41.8%), from the three-point line (42.9%/41.2%) and from the free throw line (62.5/50.0%). Rockford also outrebounded Edgewood 43-38 and got better play from its bench outscoring the Eagles bench 24-20. However the game ultimately came down to turnovers and points off turnovers. Rockford turned the ball over 21 times leading to 27 Edgewood points compared to just 10 Edgewood turnovers which led to only 14 Rockford points.
Much like the men's game earlier in the afternoon, Rockford got off to a fast start in the first half and maintained control most of the opening twenty minutes. Senior Jessica Bjerning (Wauconda, Ill./Mundelein) jump-started the offense scoring six of Rockford's first eleven points including the first four points of the game. Rockford extended its lead to nine points at the 11:38 mark following a made jumper off the hands of Katie Clark (Rock City, Ill./Dakota). The Regents were still leading by five points with 8:26 left in the first half when they went cold from the floor. Rockford went nearly five minutes without scoring a point allowing Edgewood to go on an 8-0 run to take the lead. The Eagles continued to distance themselves from the Regents and eventually entered halftime with their largest lead of the half at 37-27.
Edgewood continued to hold a double-digit lead in the early portion of the second half before Rockford made one final push to get itself back into the game. With just over eight minutes remaining and the Regents still down by 10, it was a strategically placed timeout that gave Rockford the jolt it needed. Immediately following the timeout the ladies went on a quick 5-0 run to make it a 55-50 game. Once again though the Eagles had an answer as they scored 12 of the next 14 points to extend their lead to a game-high 15 points and coast to a 74-65 win.
Senior's Jessica Bjerning and Lindsay Lengjak (Roscoe, Ill./Hononegah) both played very well in the loss. Bjerning narrowly missed her first double-double of the season as she scored a season-high 18 points on an impressive 7-for-11 shooting and grabbed 9 rebounds. She has now scored at least 14 points in two of the last three games. Lengjak was the other Regent in double-figures as she added 15 points on an equally impressive 5-of-8 shooting performance.
Off the bench it was Diamond Williams (Carpentersville, Ill./Dundee-Crown) who played her best game so far this season. Williams scored 6 points but had a game-high 10 rebounds.
The women's basketball team returns home on Wednesday, February 12th to face Alverno College at 7:00 p.m. There is plenty at stake for the Regents as they currently hold a 0.5 game lead over Lakeland College for the final NACC playoff spot.
