Box Score
HATTIESBURG, Miss.-The Belhaven women's basketball team saw its eight game winning streak stopped on Saturday night at William Carey University, losing to the Crusaders 86-80 in Southern States Athletic Conference action. Senior guard Regena Jackson matched a career and season high of 42 points, but it wasn't enough to generate the victory.

Jackson opened the game with a layup giving the Blazers a two point advantage with only seven seconds gone by in the contest. The Crusaders answered within 15 seconds on a pair of free throws by Crystal Tucker. The two teams traded baskets until Haleigh Arcement gave a two point advantage to the Crusaders at 6-4 with 18:25 left in the half. The Crusaders stayed on top for most of the period and enjoyed their largest lead of the half at 32-20 following another Arcement bucket with 6:51 on the clock. However, trailing 34-24 with just under four minutes left in the first half, Belhaven went on a 20-6 run to close the period culminating in five Jackson free throws that sent the Blazers into the locker room with a 44-40 lead.

The Blazers continued to maintain the lead during the first eight minutes of the second half, but couldn't put together a run to establish a strong foothold in the game. Belhaven's largest lead of the night turned out to be six points at 53-47 when junior forward Windy Charles connected on a jumper with 13:21 to play.

At the 11:08 mark in the second half, Erica Moore tied the game for the Crusaders and assisted Chelsea Combest on a triple just under a minute later to give William Carey a 56-53 lead. Charles tied the game for the Blazers at 58-58 with a basket with 8:54 to go, but Ciera Sibley replied within 15 seconds and gave the lead back to the Crusaders for good, 60-58. William Carey then held on over the final eight minutes for the upset victory.

Belhaven (20-6, 13-2 SSAC) suffered its first loss against an SSAC West Division opponent and now hold a slim half game lead over Loyola in the division standings after the Wolfpack defeated Faulkner 70-63. Jackson ended the night connecting on 10 of 28 field goal attempts while knocking down 17 of 18 shots at the charity stripe. Two other Blazers finished the game in double figures with senior guard Kiara Johnson and Charles tossing in 15 and 14 points respectively. Charles also paced the team in rebounds with six. As a team, Belhaven hit 38.7 percent of its shots from the field (24-62).

William Carey (11-12, 7-8 SSAC) was led by Crystal Tucker who fired in 18 points and had a game high 13 rebounds for the double double. Haleigh Arcement chipped in 16 points followed by TeAnna Carter and Megan Reynolds with 12 and 10 points respectively. The Crusaders made 49 percent of their field goals and went 35 for 40 at the free throw line (87.5%).

Belhaven will look to get back on track Thursday night when the team heads to Loyola to take on the Wolfpack. It will be a pivotal matchup for both teams and is slated to tip-off at 5:30 PM.