Macon, GA- The Wolves basketball program opened the 23-24 season in Porter Gymnasium with a sweet and sour loss to the Brenau University Tigers by a final of 63-50. Leading the Wolves were Freshman Guard Destiny Grider and Senior Jamila Ra-Hashim who finished with 12 points a piece, while Senior guard Otashae Burrage was in double figures with 10 points, and Gabby Barnwell picked up where she left off last season with 7 points and 10 rebounds.
It was a tale of two halves for the Wolves on opening night playing in front of a raucous home crowd. They finished the 1st quarter with a 12-9 lead and at one point had extended the lead to 9 points before going into the half leading 24-17. Mia Walker got the Wolves going in the first quarter with 5 points while Destiny Grider finished with 6 of the Wolves 12 in the 2nd quarter. The Wolves swarming defense was able to keep Brenau's shooters in check in the first half as the Tigers only shot 17% from the field and were 1-7 from behind the arc while Wesleyan was able to hit 33% of their shots including 2-8 (25%) from deep.
Brenau made some adjustments at the break and managed to slow down the wolves with a 1-3-1 zone in the second half while their shooters got hot at the other end of the floor knocking down four 3 pointers en route to a 18-7 3rd quarter to take the 35-31 lead with 10 minutes to go. The Wolves offense stepped up in the 4th scoring 19 points, the most of any quarter in the game, but they were unable to put a lid on the shooters for Brenau who knocked down 4-5 three pointers and shot 8-12 from the freethrow line to put up 28 and take home the win 63-50.
The Wolves travel to Pensacola, FL this weekend for their next action as they will be participating in the Pensacola Classic and are set to square up with the Eagles of Pensacola on Friday starting at 6pm, and the Suns of Johnson on Saturday starting at 11am.
