Box Score
Hattiesburg, MS-Behind by 13 points at halftime, the Belhaven women's basketball responded with a strong second half, but couldn't overtake William Carey losing to the Lady Crusaders Saturday night in Hattiesburg 73-68. The Lady Blazers are now 13-8 overall and 4-5 in the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference. William Carey is 12-6 and 7-2 in the GCAC tying them with Loyola and Xavier for second place in the conference standings.

                                                 

The Lady Crusaders jumped on the Lady Blazers early building a 13 point 46-33 lead at halftime. William Carey went 16-26 from the field in the opening 20 minutes of play and converted 12 of 13 free throws to propel the offense. Shonte Kennedy had 16 first half points to lead the Lady Crusaders in the scorebook.

 

Belhaven struggled somewhat from the field in the opening half going 11 of 27 from the field for a 40.7 percent shooting clip. The Lady Blazers went 4 of 5 from the behind the arc to help keep them in the game. Jira Williams and LaTessia Lee each had 11 first half points for the Lady Blazers.

 

Belhaven fought back in the second half and outscored William Carey over the final 20 minutes, 35-27 to give the Lady Crusaders a run for their money. Jira Williams finished the game with a season and career high 27 points and recorded her second double double with 10 rebounds. LaTessia Lee has played well in the last couple of games picking up 13 points in Saturday's contest. Jaelyn Stringer rounded out the double digit scorers with 10 points and seven rebounds.

 

As a team, Belhaven connected on 40.4 percent of their field goals and made 56.3 percent of their three point tries. William Carey had a slight rebounding edge of 34-32 over the Lady Blazers. Shonte Kennedy closed out the game with 22 points followed by Kim Lewis with 14 points and Alisha Mason added 13 points off the bench. Fallon Hartfield had a game high 12 rebounds for William Carey.