Tonight, the Bearcats took on Bellarmine University in their second home game of the season. Coach Heard and the Bearcats were looking to jump out to a quick 2-0 start to the season, after defeating Alabama A&M 73-60 on Wednesday.
The Starting 5 for tonight’s contest were: Jillian Hayes, Akira Levy, Caitlyn Wilson, Arame Niang and Jadyn Scott.
Bellarmine came out with a big 3 pointer to start this game, as they took an early 5-0 lead over the Bearcats following a Bellarmine layup. The Bearcats got the scoring started after junior guard Akira Levy found Jadyn Scott for an easy layup. The Bearcats started to find some momentum after a Malea Williams 3, as the Bearcats trailed 9-7 at the halfway mark in the first quarter. The Bearcats tied it at 9, after consecutive free throws from Levy. Bellarmine jumped out to a big 15-9 lead after a Claire Knies 3 pointer, that followed right back with another 3 from Kathleen Scott, as Bellarmine was starting to heat up from behind the arch early. The Bearcats answered with a big 3 from Taziah Jenks, followed by an and-1 from Jillian Hayes, and the Bearcats were starting to find ways to the basket late in the first quarter. The Bearcats trailed 18-14 after the first quarter, however they really started to find their grove late in the first quarter after Bellarmine got a hot start from Knies, who finished with 10 points in the first quarter.
The Bearcats got an easy bucket by the Cincinnati native, Clarissa Craig to kick off the second quarter. The Bearcats cut the lead to 3, after a Caitlyn Wilson 3 pointer, as the Bearcats still trailed 22-19. Wilson, came right back with another 3, that sparked some momentum for the Bearcats. The Bearcats had a great tremendous stop and went out in transition, as Levy dropped a beautiful pass to a back door cutting Jenks for the easy layup, forcing Bellarmine to call a timeout leading 26-24. The Bearcats started to attack the paint as Niang got a quick 4 points for the Bearcats to cut the lead to 1, when they trailed 29-28. Bellarmine was struggling to find something going on offense as the Bearcats held them scoreless for almost half the second quarter. The Bearcats took their first lead of the game after consecutive free throws from Levy.
The Bearcats took a 32-31 lead into halftime after outscoring Bellarmine 18-13 in the second quarter. Cailtyn Wilson led the Bearcats in scoring with 8 points, followed by Akira Levy with 7. The Bearcats were really spreading the ball around on offense as it was starting to give Bellarmine some trouble late in the 2nd quarter, as the Bearcats defense wasn’t letting anything fall in Belleramines favor, after trailing 5-0 early, the Bearcats settled in and really started to get their offense rolling.
The Bearcats came out to a quick start to the second half after a quick 6 points forces Bellarmine to call timeout after an easy backdoor layup from Arame Niang, after a very clean assist through traffic from Akira Levy. Levy has been very impressive here in this game as she is showing to be one of the leaders of this Bearcats team. The junior’s vision on the court is very good as she made a lot of impressive passes tonight, but the Behind the Back pass in transition to start the Bearcats run in the third quarter to Taziah Jenks was very impressive. Levy, followed it up with a steal and easy layup, and was just doing it all for the Bearcats, and the transfer from Vanderbilt has been very fun to watch here tonight, as the Bearcats jumped out to their biggest lead of the game, leading 44-35. Levy was doing it all for the Bearcats in the 3rd quarter as she scored seven points, while dishing out three assists and was a huge part of the Bearcats offense, as Bellarmine had no answer for her and Niang as the Bearcats started to push this game open as they lead 56-40 heading into the 4th quarter.
The Bearcats got a quick 4 points from Levy to start the fourth quarter as the Bearcats held a 15-point lead over Bellarmine. However, Bellarmine was looking to make a late push as they cut the Bearcats lead to 12 with 5 minutes remaining in the game. The Bearcats controlled their own pace the rest of the way as they held on to beat Bellarmine 72-59 behind an outstanding effort from this team.
The Bearcats dominated the game after a slow start to the game as they were trying to stop Bellarmine’s Claire Knies after she exploded for 10 points in the first quarter, leaving Coach Heard to make some early adjustments to stop the early momentum from Bellarmine. The Bearcats did a great job closing out the first half doing that and taking their first lead of the match at 30-29. The Bearcats came out and dominated the second half as they came out of the locker room and erupted for 24 points in the 3rd quarter as Akira Levy scored seven points, followed by a six from Arame Niang and the Bearcats were finding ways to get to the basket, and that forced Bellarmine to try to make some adjustments but it was too late. The Bearcats had four players score in double digits as Akira Levy, the junior transfer from Vanderbilt was electric tonight for the Bearcats as she not only was getting to the basket and controlling the Bearcats offense, she was flashing all her abilities as she made some very tough and flashy passes, including a behind the back pass in transition to Taziah Jenks for an easy layup. Levy finished with 18 points a team high, three rebounds and nine assists. The junior guard is really connecting with this team as she just has that swag, that energy and you can see it feed into this team, she has the “IT factor” for the Bearcats. Arame Niang also had a big game for the Bearcats as she finished with 16 points and eight rebounds, as she really took over the 2nd half as 12 of those 16 points came in the second half. Taziah Jenks also finished with 11 points, Caitlyn Wilson also finished with 10 points, so the Bearcats were really spreading the ball around here tonight as they had four players score in double digits. The Bearcats came out of the locker room at the half and outscored Bellarmine 24-9 in the 3rd quarter and they never looked back as they controlled the second half after an impressive 3rd quarter.
This Bearcats team will be very fun to watch now that there’s fans back in the arena, this team has a lot of energy for a young team, but it all starts around Akira Levy, and the rest of the team feeds off her energy, as we saw tonight a quick 32-31 game jumped out to a 64-50 game at one point. The Bearcats held on and grabbed their second win to kick off their 2021 season.
The Bearcats will be back in action this Tuesday, November, 16th when they take on Ohio University at 11 am. The Bearcats will travel right down the road to Athens, Ohio to take on the Bobcats, for their first road trip of the season.
