Box Score
New Orleans, LA-Holly Dial set a career high in points and most three pointers made in a game Saturday night, helping the Belhaven women's basketball team secure an 85-75 win at Dillard University in Gulf Coast Athletic Conference action. Dial scored 24 points and drilled seven three's as the Lady Blazers improved their overall record to 15-8 and climb back above .500 in the conference at 6-5. Dillard falls to 6-17 overall and 2-9 in the GCAC.

 

Dillard controlled the opening tip and about four seconds into the game Ariel Mitchell hit the first Lady Blue Devil field goal to put them on top. The lead wouldn't last long as Dial made a pair of free throws at the 19:22 mark and Jira Williams followed with a field goal of her own just under a minute later giving Belhaven a 4-3 lead. Belhaven then reeled off an 8-2 run to extend the advantage to seven at 12-5 with 15:55 to go in the opening half.

 

Dillard briefly pulled within three points with just over 15 minutes to go until the break, but Belhaven was able to respond over the next six minutes extending the point margin to 10 at 21-11 with 9:22 on the clock. The 9-2 Lady Blazer run was capped off by a Courtney Ward free throw and it marked the biggest lead of the game for Belhaven at that point.

 

The Lady Blazers continued to apply the pressure and put even more distance between themselves and the Lady Blue Devils. With 7:11 to go in the opening period, Dial connected from downtown to give Belhaven their first 18 point lead of the half. The Lady Blazers led by 18 points four different times in the opening 20 minutes of action. Belhaven continued to maintain a sizeable lead over the next few minutes and led by 18 points with just under a minute to go in the half. Dillard made a late push and trimmed the deficit to 13 at 47-34 as the halftime buzzer sounded.

 

The Lady Blazers set the tone in the first half especially from behind the arc. Dial made five of her seven treys and Belhaven was solid at the free throw line hitting 12 of 17 shots from the charity stripe. Dial already had 17 points through the first 20 minutes of play.

 

The Lady Blue Devils would not go away as they continued to try and hang around in the game. Dillard outscored Belhaven by three points in the second half, but the strong first half by the Lady Blazers proved to be too much to overcome.

 

Belhaven had one of their better nights of the year offensively converting on 52.7 percent of their field goals while hitting 70 percent of their three point shots. Dial led the team with a game high 24 points on seven of ten shooting from the field. All seven of Dials field goals came from behind the arc. Jaelyn Stringer had 17 points and seven rebounds followed closely by Jira Williams who tossed in 14 points and grabbed a game high nine boards. As a team, Belhaven controlled the glass with a 35-24 edge on total rebounds.

 

Dillard University was paced by Ariel Mitchell with 16 points, Lauren Daniel had 14, Lai'Ana Gill added 12 points, and Meaquell Lewis along with Syrena Edwards each had 11 points for the Lady Blue Devils.