Box Score
ROME, Ga.-The Belhaven women's basketball team is headed back to the Southern States Athletic Conference tournament semifinals for the second straight season, thanks to a 55-47 win over Auburn University-Montgomery Thursday afternoon. The Blazers, ranked 18th in the latest NAIA Top 25 Poll, opened the game on an 11-0 run and never looked back en route to their third win of the year over the Senators.

Senior guard Kiara Johnson gave the Blazers an 11 point advantage with a basket with less than nine minutes left in the first half and Belhaven was off and rolling. With 3:54 left in the half, senior Regena Jackson recorded two of her game high 30 points to put the Blazers up fourteen at 29-17, their largest lead of the half 29-17. Auburn-Montgomery then went on a 9-2 run to close the half trimming the gap to nine 30-21.

Belhaven continued to control the game early in the second half and by the 13:54 mark the Blazers held their largest lead of the contest at 43-28 following another field goal by Jackson. With 2:39 to go, Jackson set up Kiara Johnson for a lay-in making it 50-38. The Warhawks managed to shave the Blazer lead to eight on a 3 point field goal by Ariel Woods, but it wouldn't be enough as Belhaven captured the 55-47 victory.

Belhaven (24-6) was led by SSAC Player of the Year, senior guard Regena Jackson who poured in a game high 30 points in the win. Jackson played all 40 minutes, dished out six assists, and was clutch at the free throw line converting 11 of 13 attempts from the stripe. Senior forward Jessica Barlow and sophomore forward Ericka Leflore shared the team high in rebounds with eight each. Belhaven was outrebounded 48-35 and struggled overall from the field shooting 32.1 percent (18 for 56), but forced 18 AUM turnovers which generated 17 points.

LaKenya Drayton turned in a double double scoring 15 points while adding 15 rebounds to lead Auburn-Montgomery. Areial Woods dropped in 12 points and grabbed nine rebounds to round out the double digit scorers. The Senators were limited to a 32.7 percent shooting percentage (17 for 52) on the afternoon.

Belhaven will now face Shorter University in the semifinals Friday afternoon at 1:00 PM in Rome. Shorter upended Faulkner University in double overtime on Thursday 68-62 to advance. Fans can follow all the action through live stats by clicking here.