Box Score JACKSON, Miss. – The Belhaven women's basketball team heads into the Christmas break on a high note after a convincing 59-48 non-conference victory over Rust College Monday night in Rugg Arena. The Blazers were in front from start to finish and enjoyed their largest lead of 25 points midway through the second half. Belhaven climbed back above .500 with the win, closing the first half of the year with a 7-6 record.

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"It was a good win and anytime you get a victory at this time of the year before going home for Christmas it gives you some momentum heading into the break," said Belhaven Head Coach Rusty Cram. "We got a chance to play 18 players tonight and that was big for us. The players got some experience for conference play in January while building our depth for later in the season."

Belhaven started the game on an 8-0 run and never looked back on Monday night. Junior forward Tashayla Steede dropped in the first two points of the contest on her way to a team high 14 on the night. Senior forward Erika Leflore, who would also go on to post 14 points, capped the run with a layup at the 16:34 mark of the first half.

The Blazers boast one of the top defenses in the country and they proved it again on Monday. Belhaven held Rust to under 50 points and kept the Bearcats off the board for nearly four minutes to begin the game. The Blazers were 14th in the NAIA in points per game allowed at 58.5 and certainly didn't hurt that stat Monday night.

Belhaven built its first double digit lead at 12-2 with 14:48 to go in the opening period on another layup by Leflore and maintained at least a double figure lead for the majority of the first half and rest of the game. The only time the Bearcats closed the gap to less than 10 was on a layup by Kala Williams with just over 10 minutes remaining in the first half.

Leflore quickly answered with two more points to bump the Blazers edge to 18-7 a few seconds later. Belhaven took a 34-14 advantage into the locker room at halftime and Rust would get no closer than 11 points the rest of the way.

Steede and Leflore paced Belhaven with 14 points while Steede notched her third double double of the season thanks to 11 rebounds. Steede and Leflore both shot 50 percent or better from the field and each had two blocked shots. Junior Kenya Wright added eight points and chipped in with five of Belhaven's 19 assists. Wright was active on the glass as well with nine rebounds of her own.

The Blazers out-rebounded the Bearcats 45-37 and 38 of Belhaven's 59 points came in the paint. That translated into t a 44.6 percent shooting night from the field (25-56).

Rust was led by forward Jessica Brown who poured in a game high 17 points and recorded 10 rebounds. Tiesha Tunstall was the only other Bearcat to land in double figures with 12 points. Belhaven held Rust to a 27.3 percent shooting night from the field (18-66).

The Blazers will have some much needed time off before battling Southern States Athletic Conference foe Southern Wesleyan University on January 10th in Central, S.C.

"The break comes at a good time for us because it will give us a chance to get some of our players a rest and get them healthy," added Cram. "Our job is to take this time to get ready for conference so when we get back we can pick up right where we left off."