Box Score
Jackson, MS-The Belhaven women's basketball team came from behind in the second half to beat Blue Mountain College on Saturday night in Rugg Arena 61-55. The Blazers took the lead with 8:42 to go in the game and held on the rest of the way for the victory.

Belhaven (5-1) came out of the gate strong by scoring the first five points of the night. Jessica Barlow put the Blazers on the board with a layup 26 seconds into the game and then Sarah Carr dialed up a three pointer with 18:22 to play in the first half giving the Blazer the 5-0 advantage. A few minutes later, Blue Mountain (4-4) fought back to knot the score at 8-8 on a layup by Anna Lisa Powell with 15:15 to go in the opening period.

The Toppers grabbed their first lead of the night 15 seconds later at 11-10 on a three pointer by Jessi Hayless after Barlow converted on two free throw attempts moments earlier. Both teams would battle back and forth over the next 10 minutes until Blue Mountain regained the advantage at 24-22 as Katelyn Wright fired in a three point shot with 5:22 left in the opening period. The Toppers eventually took a 32-28 lead into halftime thanks in part two a couple of late free throws by Wright with 27 seconds to play in the period.

Blue Mountain pushed their lead to six points at 34-28 early in the second half on a layup by Joy Pierce with 18:03 to go in the game. Belhaven's deficit grew to seven points at 43-36 following an old fashion three point play by Pierce with 10:30 to go in the contest. The turning point in the game was an 18-2 run by the Blazers over the next six minutes giving them a 54-45 lead with 4:23 to play. Belhaven jumped back on top 44-43 on a layup by Jira Williams with 8:42 on the second half clock and a few minutes later Williams capped off the run with another field goal in the paint.

At that point, the Blazers had seized the momentum in the game and would not relinquish the lead the rest of the night. Blue Mountain did close the gap to one point at 56-55 with 1:11 to go on a field goal by McCormick, but Courtney Ward helped ice the game away with four key free throws down the stretch to seal the 61-55 win for Belhaven.

The Blazers were led on offense by Jira Williams who had a game high 18 points followed closely by Sarah Carr who tallied 17 points on the night. Williams also did a nice job on the boards by hauling in seven rebounds in 32 minutes of work on the floor. Barlow also notched seven rebounds for the Blazers who as a team held a 45-38 advantage on the glass against Blue Mountain. Carr was active on defense as well recording four steals to lead Belhaven in that category.

As a team, Belhaven struggled somewhat on offense by knocking down 33.3 percent of their shots on the night. The Blazers hit 31.3 percent of their attempts from behind the arc and made 16 of their 32 free throw attempts at the charity stripe. Belhaven's defense, which has been strong all year, forced 23 Blue Mountain turnovers and through the first six games of the season have a +10.7 turnover margin against their opponents. Williams and Carr continue to lead the Belhaven offense averaging 14.2 and 10.2 points per game respectively.

Pierce and McCormick led the Toppers with 10 points each while Wright had nine points and a game high nine rebounds. Blue Mountain was held to a 39.6 percent shooting clip from the field and made only 23.8 percent of their tries from three point land. Like the Blazers, the Toppers struggled at the free throw line converting on just 54.5 percent of their attempts at the stripe.

Belhaven will hit the road on Tuesday night as they travel to Talladega College for another non-conference matchup. The opening tip-off is slated for 5:30 PM.