BELLEVUE, Neb. -- The Bellevue University women's basketball team suffered its first loss of the season as visiting Hastings College pulled away in overtime to record an 81-77 victory over the Bruins Tuesday night in non-conference action at the Gordon Lozier Athletic Center.
The loss dropped the Bruins to 4-1 on the season. Hastings improved to 2-0 overall.
Gabby Moore tied a season-high with 24 points while adding five rebounds and a pair of assists. Ashtyn Arnold added 16 points and a pair of boards before fouling out in the overtime period.
Taylor Dement tied a school record with 11 assists while adding nine points, six steals, and five rebounds. Dru Zoucha and Zakiyyah Muhammad chipped in with eight points apiece.
McKenna Yates paced four Broncos in double figures, finishing with 17 points, eight assists, and five rebounds. Kiernan Paulk added 15 points and four boards. Mariyah Avila and Josilyn Miller finished with 10 points each.
The Bruins hit five of their first six shots and took an early 14-10 lead in the first four minutes of the fast-paced first quarter. The Broncos answered with a 7-0 run to gain a 17-14 lead with 3:46 left in the opening frame. Consecutive 3-pointers by Moore and Zoucha sparked a 9-3 BU spurt to close the quarter as the Bruins took a 23-20 lead after the opening 10 minutes of play.
After Arnold hit a short jumper in the paint to open the second quarter to give BU a five-point advantage, Hastings went on an 8-1 run to take a 28-26 lead with eight minutes left in the first half. Once again, Zoucha and Moore hit back-to-back triples, giving the Bruins a 36-31 edge midway through the quarter. Bellevue closed the half on an 8-4 run to take a 44-38 lead into the intermission.
Moore (14) and Arnold (11) combined for 25 first-half points to lead the BU offense in the first 20 minutes of action. Zoucha added eight points on 3-of-4 shooting, and Dement tallied six points, six assists, and four boards. The Bruins shot 56 percent from the field in the first half, including a 6-of-10 showing from beyond the arc.
Yates paced the Broncos in the first half with seven points and five assists.
Hastings scored the first four points of the second half to pull to within two points, and the two teams battled back and forth for the remainder of the quarter as BU took a slim 55-53 lead heading into the final frame.
After the Broncos scored the first seven points of the fourth quarter to gain a 60-55 advantage, BU battled back with a 9-2 run to take a 64-62 lead, capped by a 3-pointer from Dement at the 4:23 mark. With the score tied at 65, Miller drained a 3-pointer from the corner with 51 seconds remaining in the contest. After a layup by Muhammad pulled BU to within a point, Yates made 1-of-2 free throws to give Hastings a 69-67 lead with 23 seconds left in regulation. Kaylee Denker's bucket with nine seconds remaining tied the contest at 69-all, forcing overtime.
Neither team led by more than two points in the overtime period until two free throws by Paulk gave the Broncos a 77-74 lead with 1:52 left in the extra period. Two more free shots by Paulk and another pair by Avila put the game out of reach at 81-74. A 3-pointer by Anna Long made the final score 81-77.
The Bruins will travel to Fulton, Mo., to take on William Woods University on Saturday, Nov. 15, beginning at 7 p.m.
