Box Score
Jackson, MS-Rebounding was the name of the game on Thursday night in Rugg Arena as the Belhaven women's basketball fell to cross town rival Tougaloo College in Gulf Coast Athletic Conference action 79-72. The Lady Bulldogs crashed the boards aggressively all night long pulling down 45 total rebounds including 24 on the offensive side of the floor. Those offensive rebounds led to 27 second chance points for Tougaloo, who improves to 6-14 overall and 3-5 in the GCAC. The loss puts the Lady Blazers at 13-7 overall and 4-4 in conference play.

 

Belhaven fell behind early and never controlled the lead in Thursday night's game. Victoria Jones got the Lady Bulldogs on the board 10 seconds into the game. That began a quick 7-0 run by Tougaloo to open the contest. The Lady Blazers got their first basket about three and half minutes into the action on a field goal by LaTessia Lee. The 7-0 run by Tougaloo became a 15-2 run after Stephanie Jackson drained her second three of the game with just over five minutes gone by in the opening half.

                                                       

Belhaven got back to within seven after Jaelyn Stringer dialed up a long distance three at the 12:58 mark of the first half. Tougaloo responded and pushed their advantage back to 12 when Jones converted a pair of free throws making the score 28-16 with 8:52 on the clock. With just over two minutes to go until halftime, April Mitchell gave the Lady Bulldogs their largest lead of the half with a bucket that put them up 39-20. The half came to a close with Tougaloo owning a 41-25 lead over the Lady Blazers going into the locker room.

 

In the second half, Belhaven was unable to make much of a dent in the Lady Bulldog lead early on. Tougaloo expanded their lead to 20 points at 54-34 with 15:13 to go in the game on a three pointer by Sha'Lenia Wilcher. The Lady Blazers were then able to trim the deficit to 14 points when Stringer came away with two straight steals and went coast to coast for a pair of fast break baskets making the score 62-48 Tougaloo.

 

The Lady Bulldogs quickly responded with an 8-0 run to build what would be their largest lead of the game at 70-48 with 7:58 to go in the contest. That's when Belhaven began a strong comeback to try and get back into contention. The Lady Blazers exploded for a 16-3 run and were within nine points with just over two minutes to play. However, Tougaloo was able to recoup and hold off Belhaven in the final seconds to come away with the 79-72 victory.

 

The Lady Blazers were led by Jira Willaims and Jaelyn Stringer who each had 18 points a piece. LaTessia Lee had her best game of the season adding 15 points followed by Holly Dial with 11. Stringer had a team high eight rebounds and four steals. Belhaven hit 46.8 percent of their shots from the field and drilled 37.5 percent of their three's. The Lady Blazers struggled at the line once again converting on just 50 percent of their attempts from the charity stripe.

 

Tougaloo got an outstanding performance from Victoria Jones who had a game high 33 points and 19 rebounds, including 12 on the offensive end of the floor. Stephanie Jackson finished with 18 points and five assists. The Lady Bulldogs not only rebounded the ball extremely well, but they also connected on 53.3 of their shots from behind the arc.