Box Score
Mobile, AL-The Belhaven women's basketball team opened up Gulf Coast Athletic Conference play Thursday night with a hard fought 64-59 win at Spring Hill College. Overall, Belhaven's record improves to 10-3 this season and extends their winning streak to three in a row. The Lady Badgers are now 3-8 overall and 0-1 in conference play.

 

The Lady Blazers took the early lead on a basket by Jira Williams to open up the nights scoring 30 seconds into the contest. Two minutes later Spring Hill got its first basket on a field goal by Erica Wright to tie the score at 2-2. Belhaven then had the advantage at 7-6 before falling behind for the fist time in the game when Andrea Hicks knocked down a pair of free throws to make it 8-7 Spring Hill with 16:06 to play in the first half.

 

The Lady Badgers then proceeded to extend their advantage to seven with 8:16 to go in the opening period, which would prove to be their largest lead of the game. At that point, the Lady Blazers were able to cut away at the deficit and recaptured the lead on an old fashion three point play by Stasha Thomas 29-27 with 1:53 to go in the first half. Belhaven would add four more points before the buzzer to take a 32-29 lead into the locker room.

 

In the second half, the Lady Blazers continued to control the momentum and methodically built a 10 point lead over the first 9:30 minutes of the second half. Jaelyn Stringer converted on a layup with 10:32 to play making the score 46-36. Spring Hill did not give up and managed to climb back into contention over the final minutes of the game. With 25 seconds left, Erica Wright pulled the Lady Badgers to within two points of the lead on a field goal in the paint. In the final seconds, Belhaven hit some key free throws to lock up the win and prevent the upset bid by Spring Hill.

 

Jira Williams led the offensive attack for Belhaven with 17 points and was 7-7 from the free throw line. Jaelyn Stringer added 11 points and Samantha Graham rounded out the double digit scorers with 10 points and a game high 10 rebounds to record the double double. As a team, the Lady Blazers shot 36 percent from the field and 57 percent from the free throw line. Despite their struggles throughout the game from the charity stripe, Belhaven went three of four from the line in the final seconds to help secure the victory.

 

Spring Hill was led by Keisha Hill with a game 18 points. Erica Wright tossed in 15 points followed by Sheridan Hollis with 10 points. Belhaven's defense frustrated the Lady Badger offense throughout the game forcing 33 turnovers and holding Spring Hill to 32 percent from the field.