Box Score
Blue Mountain, MS-The Belhaven women's basketball team dug themselves a hole in the first half at Blue Mountain College Thursday night and mounted a furious comeback in the second half, but the Toppers were able to hang on at the end for a 74-72 victory.

The Blazers scored the first five points of the game in the opening 1:30 of the contest on a two point field goal by Jessica Barlow and a three pointer by Sarah Carr. Blue Mountain (2-0) took the lead at the 15:58 mark on a basket by Candace Davis and eventually increased their advantage to 17 points at 30-13 with 7:38 remaining in the first half. Belhaven (1-1) trimmed the deficit to eight with a few seconds left in the first half, but gave up three free throws to the Toppers just before halftime as Blue Mountain went to the locker room with a 45-34 lead.

The Toppers were hot from the field in the opening 20 minutes drilling 16 of their 31 field goal attempts. The Toppers also converted 9 of their 11 free throw attempts. However, Belhaven made just 11 of their 35 shots and went 11 of 18 at the free throw line.

The Blazers defense stepped up in the second half and began to slow down the Blue Mountain offense. Belhaven forced 31 Blue Mountain turnovers in the game which helped setup opportunities on the offensive end of the floor. Thanks to those turnovers, the Blazers were able to chip away at the lead and give themselves a chance in the final moments of the game. Trailing by two at 74-72, Sarah Carr had one last look at the basket for Belhaven, but could not get the jump shot to fall as Blue Mountain held on for the victory.

Jira Williams led the Belhaven offense with a game high 20 points. Jessica Barlow had another solid game for the Blazers with 15 points and 11 rebounds recording her first double double of the 2009 campaign. Octavia Mullins had a nice game off the bench with 11 points and six rebounds while Reneka Thompson chipped in with eight points in eight minutes on the floor. As a team, Belhaven shot 34.7 percent from the floor, but went just one of eight from behind the three point line. The Blazers were 19 of 29 from the free throw line.

The Toppers had a pair of players reach double digits in scoring as Anna Lisa Powell and Jessi Hayles tossed in 11 points and 10 points respectively. Powell also earned a double double with a team high 10 rebounds on the night. As a team, Blue Mountain made 40 percent of their field goals, 23.8 percent of their three point attempts, and knocked down 78.4 percent of their free throws which included 20 of 26 in the second half. The Toppers had a slight edge in rebounds at 46-45 while Belhaven forced Blue Mountain into 31 turnovers compared to 19 turnovers for the Blazers.

Belhaven will be back in action on Tuesday when they play their first home game of the season against Wesley College beginning at 5:30 PM. The Blazers defeated the Warriors in the season opener October 31st 82-76.