Box Score
Jackson, MS-Using another solid defensive performance, the Belhaven women's basketball team upended Southern University of New Orleans Monday night in Rugg Arena 70-53. The Lady Blazers forced 28 Lady Knight turnovers en route to an overall record of 13-6 and 4-3 in the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference. SUNO drops to 7-7 overall and 2-5 in the GCAC with the loss.

 

The Lady Blazers jumped ahead early and never trailed in Monday's victory. Belhaven opened up a 6-2 lead in the opening one minute and thirty seconds of play on a field goal by Jira Williams and a pair of baskets by Jaelyn Stringer. With 10:47 left to go in the first half, the Lady Blazers expanded their advantage to ten points at 24-14 on a bucket by Kimberly Ward off an assist by Courtney Ward.

 

About four minutes later, the Lady Knights climbed to within five points after Ashley Cagle made a pair of free throws to make the score 28-23 Belhaven. The Lady Blazers then pushed the lead back to 10 points with 1:26 to go in the first half on a pair of free throws by Stringer and at the point the score was 37-27. Both teams traded baskets to close out the opening period with Belhaven taking a 39-29 lead going into the break.

 

Belhaven came out in the second half and put together a 13-5 run over the first six minutes to build a commanding 52-34 lead. However, the Lady Knights responded with a 12-3 run of their own to close the gap to 55-46 with 9:58 to go in the game. The Lady Blazers regrouped quickly and bumped their lead to 15 at 64-49 with just 4:06 remaining in the second half. Jira Williams put the game out of reach with a field goal that made it 68-51 Belhaven with 2:15 on the clock. From there, the Lady Blazers closed out the game for their 13 victory of the season 70-53.

 

Kimberly Ward had a season high 17 points and five rebounds in her best game of the season to lead the Lady Blazers. Jaelyn Stringer also tossed in 17 points and grabbed three rebounds in the game. Courtney Ward dished out five assists and was also active on the boards pulling down five rebounds for the Lady Blazers.

 

As a team, Belhaven hit 41.8 percent of their field goals and had a great night at the free throw line converting 75.9 percent of their attempts at the charity stripes. Belhaven was outrebounded by the Lady Knights but were able to come up with 28 turnovers which led to 24 Lady Blazer points.

 

SUNO was led by Jazzlyn Prince who had 18 points and eight rebounds followed by Kiarra Sims who added 12 points and eight more boards. The Lady Knights converted 41.9 percent of their field goals and made 73.7 percent of their free throws.