Box Score
Jackson, MS-The Belhaven women's basketball team survived a late charge by Blue Mountain College Saturday night to post a 65-64 win on day two of the Coaches versus Cancer Classic in Rugg Arena. The Toppers rallied from a 10 point second half deficit to get within a point of the lead with four seconds to play, but Blue Mountain could not covert a last second field goal as the Blazers escaped with the victory.

Blue Mountain (6-7) controlled the opening minutes of the game and opened up an eight point lead at 23-15 with 10:26 left to go in the first half. Belhaven (8-2) scored the game's first field goal when Jira Williams came up with a steal and drove to the basket for the score. The Blazers led 4-3 at the 18:21 mark of the opening period following two free throws by Williams, but would not have the advantage again until late in the first half due in part to some outstanding early three point shooting by Blue Mountain.

After the Toppers built the 23-15 edge, Belhaven's offense got on track and the defense began to slowed down Blue Mountain with the result being an 11-4 run to knot the score at 27-27 with 5:19 left to go before halftime. A few seconds later, the Blazers climbed back on top at 29-27 thanks to another layup by Williams. The final 4:37 then ticked off the clock with Belhaven holding a 33-30 lead heading into halftime.

The Blazers came out strong in the second half and quickly put six points on the board with just under three minutes gone by in the final frame. The Blazers 6-0 run then turned into a 12-5 run and all of a sudden Belhaven had a double digit lead at 45-35 with 15:44 to go in the contest. However, the Toppers would rally to tie the score at 50-50 with 8:08 to play on the strength of a 15-3 run of their own. Blue Mountain was on fire from three point land to begin the game and after a cold spell heated up again with a trio of triples in the 15-3 spurt.

The game remained tight down the stretch as neither team held an advantage greater than five points. It looked like the Blazers had the game locked up with 16 seconds left and holding a four point lead at 65-61 following a pair of free throws by Jessica Barlow. Once again though, the Toppers did not back down as Jordan McCormick dialed up her fifth trey of the game to bring Blue Mountain to within one point at 65-64. A Blazer turnover gave the ball back to the Toppers with four seconds on the clock, but McCormick's final shot hit the rim as the buzzer sounded giving Belhaven the win.

Jessica Barlow had a great night for Belhaven scoring a game high 22 points while grabbing 11 rebounds for her third double double of the season. Barlow also made some key free throws converting 10 of her 13 attempts. Brittany Carr tallied her third consecutive double double with 16 points and 11 rebounds while Jira Williams added 11 points and seven boards. Williams leads the Blazers in scoring at 13.3 points per game and following Barlow's performance in Saturday's game is now second on the team in scoring at12.4 points per night.

Belhaven only hit 29.6 percent of their field goals, went one for six from three point range, but were solid from the charity stripe converting 22 of their 30 attempts for a 73.3 shooting percentage. It proved to be the difference in the game as Belhaven did a great job of forcing Blue Mountain into 22 fouls. The Blazers also dominated the boards 55-38 and hauled down 25 of them on the offensive end of the floor.

The Toppers were led by Jordan McCormick who had 19 points due in large part to a five of six shooting night from three point range. Katelynn Wright had 16 points and Joy Pierce chipped in with 12 points in the contest. Blue Mountain connected on 33.9 percent of their field goals, 45.5 percent of their 33 three point attempts, and 63.6 percent of their free throw opportunities. Anna Lisa Powell paced the Toppers in rebounding with a team high eight boards.

Belhaven will hit the court again on December 31st as they travel to cross town rival Millsaps for a battle with the Majors beginning at 6:00 PM.