By Matthew D. Stokes
BerryVikings.com Staff Writer

ROME, Ga. – Mel McLean came off the bench for Berry to lead all scorers with 17 points, but visiting Shorter overcame an early first-half deficit to defeat the Lady Vikings 67-55 in a Thursday evening matchup at the Cage Center.

After defeating the Lady Vikings by 38 points at Shorter earlier this season, Shorter quickly fell behind by as many as eight points in the early going Thursday. If the Lady Hawks were fazed, they sure did not show it, going on a 14-6 run to tie the game 20-20.

Soon, Shorter had its first lead of the half, and then made another run to extend its advantage to six points as the first half buzzer sounded.

Shorter held a 28-20 rebounding advantage in the first 20 minutes, including 11-3 on offensive rebounds.

"We've been preaching it all year, but we finally put together 15 minutes of consistent defense where we did the things that we've been practicing," said Berry head coach Stephanie Dunn. "Offensively we moved and had a purpose for our movement, so we got shots that we could make against a taller, bigger team."

In the second half, Shorter came out on fire and soon was ahead by as many as eight points. However, Berry fought back, narrowing the deficit to as little as two points with an 8-3 run. That was as close as Berry would get as Shorter grew its lead to as many as 13 points before closing out the victory.

"They outrebounded us in part because we're a much smaller team," said of Dunn of the Lady Hawks' 52-37 rebounding advantage.

"Also we just fouled way too much," said Dunn of Berry's 18 personal fouls. "If you look at the score, that's the difference."

In addition to McLean's 17, Allison Lawrence also came off the bench to post 13 points for Berry.

Shorter was led by Kelly Ellison and Abbie Daniel, who each scored 14 points apiece. Brittney Smith hauled in a game-high 12 rebounds, including seven offensive boards, which matched the number of offensive rebounds pulled down by Berry's entire team.

In the end, Dunn said she could see an improvement from the first matchup earlier this year.

"They were intimidated," said Dunn of her team's younger players in the Jan. 23 game. "This time they knew what to expect so they were a lot more calm and confident."

The Lady Vikings will return to action on Saturday in a road game against Young Harris College at 2 p.m.

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