Box Score
NEW ORLEANS, La.- The Belhaven women's basketball team secured a much needed Southern States Athletic Conference victory Thursday night, defeating Loyola on the road. The Blazers, ranked 16th in the latest NAIA Top 25 Poll, have the upper hand in the SSAC West Division only needing a victory on Saturday to secure the West Division Championship and automatic bid to the NAIA National Tournament. Belhaven has a 1.5 game lead on Loyola with two games to play.

Loyola (21-3, SSAC 12-3) jumped quickly out in front of the Blazers thanks to an 8-0 run within the opening minutes of the contest. The Blazers would respond and with a 9-2 run of their own starting a trend of both teams trading baskets back and forth in the first half. Loyola put up 36 first half points by hitting 44 percent of their field goals while the Blazers claimed 35 points in the half shooting 40% in the half.

Belhaven (21-6, SSAC 14-2) outscored the Wolfpack in the second half of the game by six points 36-30, which ended up being the difference in the game. The Blazers shot 52% from the floor in the half while holding the Wolfpack to a shooting percentage of 34.5. Both teams were pretty much even in total rebounds with Loyola snatching 33 while Belhaven grabbed 31.

Senior guard Regena Jackson's 39 points was a game high and also gives her 1,000 career points in a season and half worth of games. Jackson needed 35 points coming into the game to reach the milestone. Jackson joins an elite group of seven other former Belhaven players to score 1,000 or more career points. The last Blazer to score 1,000 plus was Jira Williams who finished her career with 1,249 in 2010.

Following Jackson for the Blazers was sophomore Erika Leflore with 11 points and eight rebounds. Junior Sarah Carr tallied 10 points while junior Ashley Wakefield contributed five points off the bench. The Blazers went 23-50 (46%) from the floor while managing a impressive showing at the charity stripe going 21-24 at 87.5%.

The Wolfpack's Kevia Council wasn't too far behind Jackson with her point total of 35 points and 10 rebounds in the contest. Jasmine Brewer trailed Council with 13 points for the Wolfpack while Raven Lane contributed six points and five rebounds to the mix. Loyola shot 38.9% from the field for the contest while going 74.1% from the free throw line.

Belhaven will be back in action on Saturday night against Faulkner University in the final regular season home game of 2011-12. Game-time is slated 5:00 PM.