Linton leads comeback effort as women's basketball tops Brenau

GAINESVILLE, Ga. - Big comebacks, for better and worse, have been a staple of Union women's basketball games this season.

Luckily, on Tuesday, the Bulldogs were on the right side of a furious rally.

LeAsia Linton scored 11 of her 27 points in the fourth quarter and put her team ahead for good on a layup with 1:20 to play and the Bulldogs rallied back from 13 down at the half to top Brenau 65-61 in an Appalachian Athletic Conference road matchup.

Trailing 33-20 at the half, Linton got the Bulldogs off to an immediate great start by connecting on 3-pointer on their first possession of the third quarter, then hit a layup just before the buzzer to cut the deficit to 49-43 going into the final period.

Union took its first lead since early in the first quarter on a McKenzi Himes layup with 6:12 to play, a play that kick-started a back-and-forth affair that saw Brenau pull back ahead 58-57 on an Anna Gliatta 3-pointer with 3:08 to play.

But as she had for much of the night, Linton put the Bulldogs on her back down the stretch, hitting the go-ahead layup with 1:20 left, then extending the lead to 61-58 with a jump shot on the next possession. All told she scored seven consecutive points in the run as the defense made the necessary stops to earn a second win of the season.

Linton was joined in double figures by Himes, who had 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting, while Gracie Jervis had a team-best seven rebounds.

Now 2-5 overall and 2-4 in the AAC, the Bulldogs will play outside the conference this weekend at the Show Tournament in Kingsport, Tenn. The first game will be a 2:30 p.m. tip against Washington Adventist Friday.