Box Score
Florence, MS-The Belhaven women's basketball team tipped off the 2009-10 season on Saturday afternoon at Wesley College and came away with an 82-76 win over the Warriors. The Blazers jumped out of the gate strong and held off a late charge by Wesley to secure the victory.

Belhaven got on the board at the 18:39 mark of the first half on a field goal by Jira Williams to take a quick 2-0 lead. Over the next couple of minutes, both teams traded baskets and with 16:31 to play in the first half the Blazers had an 8-7 edge in the contest. Belhaven proceeded to go on a 15-1 run over the next five minutes and extend their advantage to 15 at 23-8.

Sarah Carr got the run going on a three point shot off an assist by Jessica Barlow while Octavia Mullins made it 23-8 on a two point basket with 11:32 to play until halftime. Wesley eventually closed the gap to 13 points at the end of the first half on a three point basket by Jessica Houston who had 40 of Wesley's 76 points. Following the three pointer by Houston, the Blazers owned a 45-32 lead as both teams went into the locker at halftime.

The Blazers came out strong at the beginning of the second period by reeling off a 9-4 run building an 18 point lead at 54-36 with 16:20 to go in the game. Mallory Hammack gave the Blazers their largest lead of the afternoon at 19 points on a field goal with 14:44 remaining in the second half. At the time, Belhaven controlled the game with a 56-37 lead.

However, Wesley refused to give up a slowly but surely began to chip away at the deficit. Houston drilled another three pointer with just over three minutes to play and then came back to fill up another trey at the 2:20 mark to pull the Warriors within five points at 73-68. With time running out, Wesley was forced to foul and the Blazers came through at the charity stripe. Belhaven made of 11 of their 12 free throws attempts down the stretch to help secure the win. Courtney Ward was five of six at the line while Jira Williams, Jessica Barlow, and Rachenia Powell each hit a pair of free throws apiece in the final 2:11 of the game. Ward iced the game away at the line with 10 seconds left with the final two points of the game giving Belhaven the 82-76 win.

Williams led the Blazer offense with 18 points on an 8 of 17 shooting night from the field. She also grabbed four rebounds on the defensive end of the floor. Jessica Barlow had a solid debut for Belhaven scoring 13 points while pulling down a team high nine rebounds. Sarah Carr rounded out the double digit scorers for the Blazers with 12 points thanks to four of six shooting from behind the arc. Courtney ward had a team high of six assists on the afternoon while Brittany Carr finished the night second on the team in rebounds with seven.

As a team, the Blazers made 41.4 percent of their field goals, hit 30.8 percent of their three point shots, and knocked down 69 percent of their free throw opportunities. Wesley had a slight edge in rebounding at 44-42 and Belhaven ended up turning over the ball 19 times compared to 17 turnovers for the Warriors.

Wesley was led by Houston who had 40 points as she went 10 for 17 from three point range. Courtney Wade finished the game with 17 points and eighteen rebounds while Dana Parker tallied 11 points to round out Wesley's double digit scorers. The Warriors made 33 percent of their field goals, 45 percent of their three point attempts, and 58 percent of their shots at the foul line.

Belhaven will be back in action on Thursday night as they travel to Blue Mountain College for a 5:30 PM tip off.