Box Score
Jackson, MS-The Belhaven women's basketball team opened up the 2009 Coaches versus Cancer Classic with a 70-63 win over Talladega Friday night in Rugg Arena. The Blazers avenged an earlier loss to the Tornadoes this season and Belhaven senior forward Jira Williams eclipsed the 1,000 point mark for her career.

The opening half of the contest was low scoring and tightly contested as both teams tried to establish a rhythm on the offensive side of the ball. The Blazers got on the board first 19 seconds into the game on a layup by Courtney Ward to make it 2-0. Talladega then went on a mini 6-0 run and jumped on top 6-2 with just over three minutes gone by in the opening period.

Belhaven (7-2) eventually regained the advantage at 7-6 on a three pointer by Williams only to see the Tornadoes fight back and build an 11-7 edge of their own with 12:16 remaining on the first half clock. The rest of the first half went back and forth as evidenced by six ties and eight lead changes in the first 20 minutes of action. The Blazers eventually took a two point lead at 28-26 when the first half buzzer sounded.

It looked like Belhaven would get the momentum they were looking for early in the second half following a 5-0 run after Talladega's Tamiko Round tied the score at 28-28 in the opening seconds. The 5-0 run by the Blazers gave them their biggest lead of night at that point with 18:07 left in the game and the scoreboard reading 33-28 in Belhaven's favor. However, the Tornadoes put together another 6-0 run to recapture the lead at 34-33 with 14:52 to play in the second half.

That would prove to be the last time Talladega would enjoy a lead for the rest of the night. With score tied at 44 apiece and 10:04 on the clock, the Blazers took control of the contest using a 9-2 run over the next two minutes and thirty seconds to build a 53-46 edge. The Tornadoes could get no closer than five points for the rest of the second half as Belhaven went on to post the 70-63 win.

The Blazers were paced by Brittany Carr who recorded her second consecutive double double with a team high 14 points and 12 rebounds. Jessica Barlow also had a good game with 13 points on a six of seven shooting night from the field. Octavia Mullins followed with 12 points and seven rebounds while Jira Williams rounded out Belhaven's double digit scorers with 10 points. Williams now has 1,004 points for her career and is one of only six Blazers to score 1,000 or more points in her career. Ward led the team in assists with four.

As a team, Belhaven connected on 44.3 percent of their shots from the field, hit 45.5 percent of their three point opportunities, but struggled a bit from the charity stripe making only 40.7 percent of their attempts at the line. The Blazers forced 22 turnovers and tallied 15 points off of Talladega miscues. Belhaven was outrebounded Friday night 49-36.

Talladega had four players reach double figures in scoring led by Ebony Richardson with 22 points. Morgan Bennett was one of three Tornadoes to post a double double thanks to 18 points and 11 rebounds. Whitney Round had 10 points and 13 boards while Whitney Love finished the night with 10 points and 10 rebounds. As a team, Talladega shot 35.5 percent from the field, made only 2 of their 22 three point attempts for 9.1 percent, and converted 73.9 percent of their free throws.

Belhaven will return to action on Saturday against Blue Mountain College in their second game of the Coaches versus Cancer Classic beginning at 5:00 PM in Rugg Arena. Blue Mountain topped Tougaloo 86-75 on Friday afternoon in their first contest of the tournament. Saturday's other women's game will feature Talladega against Tougaloo in a 1:00 PM tipoff.