Balanced effort lifts Bucs past Lady Wranglers

CISCO, Texas – Freshman guard Tierra Tucker scored a game-high 20 points and four other Buccaneers reached double figures as the Blinn College women's basketball team defeated Cisco 79-74 here Tuesday night.

Freshman guard Moe Bedford scored 14, sophomore forward Audrisa Harrison scored 12, sophomore guard Aarika Reyna added 11 and freshman forward Fatima Adams chipped in 10 as the Buccaneers led by double digits throughout much of the second half.

With about five minutes to go, Cisco went on a run to cut the Bucs' lead to five points, but Blinn withstood the challenge with solid free throw shooting, making 17 of 21 from the charity stripe in the second half.

The victory improved the Buccaneers to 2-0 on the season after they defeated Western Texas College 74-64 in their season opener Monday night.

"It's a tough road trip," said Blinn coach Jeff Jenkins. "Snyder and Cisco are a long drive and they always have good crowds. These are two good wins."

Tucker, an A&M Consolidated High School product, has scored 37 points in her first two collegiate games. She was 5 of 10 from the free throw line.

"She finds ways to score," Jenkins said. "She's a slasher and she gets to the line quite a bit."

Bedford scored 12 of her 14 points in the second half. She made all six of her free throw attempts in the second half.

"She's going to do nothing but get better," Jenkins said. "She tore her ACL her senior year of high school, and prior to that she was highly recruited. She's going to do nothing but get better the more she plays."

Reyna, who won two state championships while at Cy-Fair High School, is also coming off ACL surgery. She transferred to Blinn from Southeastern Louisiana.

"Those two will get better every game as they get more comfortable," Jenkins said.

Blinn was without Amari Jones and Jazzmin Parker, both of whom were out with minor injuries.

The Buccaneers will make their home debut Saturday when they host Victoria College at 2 p.m. in the Blinn P.E. Building. The men's team will follow with a 4 p.m. tip-off against the Houston Blaze.