Box Score
Jackson, MS-The Belhaven women's basketball had a strong night in every facet of the game as they pulled past William Carey University 72-55 Thursday night in Rugg Arena. The Lady Blazers are now 16-9 overall and 7-6 in the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference. The Lady Crusaders fall to 14-8 overall and 9-4 in the GCAC dropping into a tie for third place in the league. Belhaven has a two game lead over Mobile for fourth place in the standings.

                                          

The game remained close throughout the first half as both teams traded baskets over the course of the first 15 minutes. Mallory Hammack gave the Lady Blazers an early lead on a four point play after drilling a three point shot while being fouled by Fallon Hartfield. The Lady Crusaders tied the game at 6-6 on a field goal by Kim Lewis with 17:27 to go in the first half. It was the second of what would prove to be six ties in the first 15 minutes of the game.

 

With the score tied at 21-21, Belhaven went on a 9-2 run to take a 30-23 advantage with 1:16 left to go in the opening half on a free throw by Holly Dial. William Carey cut the lead to five points with a couple of free throws before the halftime buzzer sounded. The Lady Blazers ended up taking a 30-25 lead into the break.

 

The Lady Blazers came out in the second half and jumped ahead by 11 points at 38-27 on a Jaelyn Stringer layup off an assist by Holly Dial with 17:11 to play. The Lady Crusaders made a bid to get back in the game using an 11-2 run to close the gap to two points at 40-38 with 12:36 showing on the second half clock.

 

That's when Belhaven kicked it in high gear by reeling off a 22-6 scoring run to build a commanding 62-44 lead with just 3:42 left in the game. The run was capped off by a three point basket by Hammack who hit a total of four treys in the game. From there the Lady Blazers were able to hold of William Carey over the final 3:30 minutes to lock up the victory.

 

Jaelyn Stringer had a game and season high 26 points to go along with nine rebounds just missing another double double. Mallory Hammack finished the night with 13 points with 12 of her 13 points coming on shots from behind the arc. Belhaven hit 44.1 percent of their shots from the field and converted 41.7 percent of their three point attempts. The Lady Blazers helped their cause down the stretch by going 13 of 15 at the free throw line in the second half.

 

William Carey was led by Kim Lewis who tossed in 25 points followed by Kate Hubbard with 11 points. The Lady Crusaders turned it over 20 times and lost the rebounding battled to the Lady Blazers 36-31.