Box Score
Shreveport, LA-The Belhaven women's basketball team opened the 2010-11 season in fine fashion on Wednesday night thanks to a 48-44 victory at LSU-Shreveport. Both defenses dominated the night, but the Blazers were able to find enough offense while holding the Pilots to a 23.3 percent shooting clip from the field to pull out the win.

Belhaven (1-0) was led by Sarah Carr who had a big night from three point land drilling five three's and posting a team high 15 points. Carr paced the Blazers last season in three point shooting hitting 24 for the season in 23 games played. Erica Leflore had an impressive debut on the boards pulling down 10 rebounds while notching six points on the night. Jessica Barlow and Rachenia Powell added eight points apiece.

The story of the night was Belhaven's defense as they kept the Pilots offense in check for the majority of the game and made it difficult to get shots from the field. The Blazers also forced 20 turnovers and Powell made her presence felt on the defensive end of the floor by coming up with a team high four steals. The Blazers were able to generate 11 points off the turnovers which was a big key to the win. Barlow also made it tough on the Pilots in the paint by rejecting a pair of LSUS shot attempts.

LSU-Shreveport (1-0) was paced by Tynekqua Warren who had a game high 16 points followed by Sharday Cotton with 11 points and 16 rebounds to secure a double double. Valerie Huizar had eight points off the bench, but turned the ball over four times. The Pilots out rebounded the Blazers 57-36, but struggled from the field and the free throw line. LSUS hit only 12.5 percent of their three point attempts and where 14 of 29 from the free throw stripe. As a team, Belhaven shot 33.3 percent from the field, were 7 of 16 from three point land, and connected on 7 of 11 attempts at the charity stripe.

Belhaven got out to a quick start in the game as the Blazers reeled off a 15-1 run to open up a 14 points lead. Barlow got Belhaven on the board with a free throw in the opening minute and then Carr drilled a three pointer at the 16:17 mark to make it a 4-1 lead. Carr ended up making two more triples in the opening eight minutes to extend the edge to 12-1 with 12:23 to play in the first half. Sierra Cavitt then made good on an old fashion three point play and the Blazers had their biggest lead of the night with just under 12 minutes to go until halftime.

Following a time out, LSU-Shreveport regrouped and put together an 18-4 run to knot the game at 19-19 with 2:41 left in the first half. Warren capped the run with a jumper in the lane and suddenly the Pilots were right back in it. The game went back and forth over the next couple of minutes, but Edwards hit four free throws in the final minute of the first half to send LSUS into the locker room with a 25-23 lead.

From that point on, the Pilots would maintain no more than a four point until Alex Hastings hit a three pointer to even things up at 37-37 with just over six minutes to play in the game. It was Hastings only field goal of the night, but was one of the biggest shots of the game for Belhaven. The Blazers regained the lead briefly at 39-37 on a Leflore field goal until Warren dialed up a three pointer to make it 40-39 in favor of LSUS with 4:40 on the second half clock. Belhaven then recaptured the advantage for good at 41-40 on a jumper by Leflore about a minute later and then held on the rest of the way for the 48-44 victory. Powell also drilled a couple of key free throws in the final 20 seconds to seal it for the Blazers.

Belhaven will be back in action on Saturday afternoon when they travel to Blue Mountain College for another non-conference contest. The opening tip-off is slated for 1:00 PM.