Box Score
Jackson, MS-The Belhaven women's basketball team jumped out to a big lead and then held off a late second half charge by Rust College on Tuesday night in route to a 68-53 win over the Bearcats in Rugg Arena. The Blazers opened up the game with a 19-3 run and then built a 23 point second half lead before Rust climbed back to within 11 points with just over four minutes to go in the game before Belhaven shutdown the Bearcats for the rest of the contest.

Belhaven (6-2) won the opening tip and it didn't take long for Blazers to crack the score board. Sarah Carr dropped a perfect pass in the paint to an open Jessica Barlow who knocked it in off the window for the games first field goal. Belhaven would score the first eight points and lead 8-0 before Rust cashed in on their first field goal with just over four minutes gone by in the first half. Tremelanie McFadden was credited with the basket for the Bearcats.

Belhaven's lead went from six to 16 at 19-3 in a matter of five minutes as Brittany Carr dialed up a jump shot which was set up on an assist by Octavia Mullins with 11:09 remaining in the opening period. The Blazers biggest lead of the first half was 19 points at 29-10 following a layup by Brittany Carr with 4:29 showing on the first half clock. The final points of the half came on a basket by Reneka Thompson pushing the Blazers edge back to 18 points at 33-15 after Rust had trimmed it to16 points with just under three minutes left in the half. Thompson's points were recorded with a little over two minutes to play in the half, but neither team could score before the halftime buzzer sounded as Belhaven took a 33-15 lead into the break.

The Blazers bumped the lead to 23 points at 38-15 three minutes into the second period on a three pointer by Sarah Carr off an assist by Courtney Ward. Rust then began to claw their way back into the contest with a 14-3 run during the next four minutes to cut the deficit to 12 at 41-29 with 12:22 left to play. The Blazers then rallied for an 11-3 run of their own to extend the lead to 20 points once again at 52-32 capped off on a layup by Brittany Carr with 7:49 left in the contest.

The Bearcats refused to go away by mounting an 11-2 run to pull within 11 points of the Blazers at 54-43 with just over 4:30 minutes to go. However, Belhaven's defense, which has been strong all season, was up to the challenge and would not allow Rust to get any closer the rest of the way. Barlow tossed in the final two points of the game for Belhaven at the free throw line with 36 seconds on the clock and the Blazers went on to secure the 68-53 win.

Belhaven was led by Brittany Carr who had 18 points and 11 rebounds which were both game highs and season highs for Carr. Jira Williams and Jessica Barlow both had 13 points followed by Courtney Ward with 10 points against the Bearcats. Sarah Carr added nine points and dished out a team high four assists while Williams recorded a game high six steals.

The game was plagued by turnovers as both teams combined to commit 56 on the night. The Blazers turned the ball over 27 times compared to 29 miscues by Rust. Belhaven's defense is forcing 28.4 turnovers per game from their opponents so far this season and is at +9.3 in turnover margin. As a team, the Blazers knocked down 45.2 percent of their field goals, connected on 27.3 percent of their shots from behind the three point line, and converted 56.3 percent of their shots from the free throw line. Belhaven won the battle of the boards outrebounding the Bearcats 45-32.

Rust had a pair of players reach double figures in scoring as Danielle Patterson and Tremelanie McFadden each recorded 10 points on Tuesday night. Ashley Norris had a team high seven rebounds and Arielle Taylor came away with three steals. The Bearcats made 36.4 percent of their field goals, were held to 22.7 percent shooting from behind the three point line, and made 53.3 percent of their free throws.

Belhaven will hit the court again on Saturday as they travel to NCAA Division I Troy University for an exhibition game beginning at 2:00 PM.