Box Score
Blue Mountain, MS-The Belhaven women's basketball team picked up their second win in as many tries against Blue Mountain College, upending the Lady Toppers 73-55 at Blue Mountain Tuesday evening. The Lady Blazers knocked off Blue Mountain 71-35 on November first to begin the year. With the victories over the Lady Toppers and Wesley College, Belhaven is 3-0 out of the gate this season.

 

Unlike the opening game between these two teams, the first half would prove to be a seesaw battle. Blue Mountain started strong by opening up a five point lead 9-4 about three minutes into the contest. The Lady Blazers then battled back to take their first lead of the game 10-9 at the 15:30 mark of the opening half. Over the next four minutes, neither team could build a lead larger than three points. With the scored tied at 18 with 11:30 to play in the first half, Merve Yildirm made a pair of free throws to give the Lady Blazers a lead they would never relinquish. Belhaven went on to lead by as many as 11 points and ended up taking a nine point advantage into halftime 42-33.

 

Jira Williams had 10 first half points to lead Belhaven and as a team the Lady Blazers shot an incredible 69 percent from the field. Belhaven also had the rebounding edge 11-8 in the first 20 minutes of action. The Lady Toppers were paced by Joy Pierce with nine points. However, Belhaven's defense limited Blue Mountain to 37.5 percent shooting from the field.

 

Belhaven dominated the second half by owning a double digit lead for the final 18 minutes of play. The Lady Blazers opened the half on an 11-2 run to jump ahead by 18 points with just under 13 minutes to go. With the momentum on their side, the Lady Blazers expanded their advantage to 29 points at 73-44 with about four minutes to go in the game. Blue Mountain hit three consecutive three point shots to close to gap late, but at the point the game was already decided.

 

Jira Williams had a game high 20 points to lead the Lady Blazer offense. Jaelyn Stringer also had a strong outing by firing in 19 points on 9-14 shooting from the field. Holly Dial had six rebounds to pace Belhaven in that department. As a team, the Lady Blazers hit 59 percent of their shots and had the rebounding edge over Blue Mountain 30-23. The defense also forced 23 Lady Topper turnovers and likewise held Blue Mountain to a 35 percent field goal percentage.

 

Belhaven travels to Freed-Hardeman University Thursday night for their second consecutive road game. Freed-Hardeman is ranked third in the NAIA Top 25 preseason poll. The game is scheduled to get underway at 7 PM.