Box Score
JACKSON, Miss. – The Belhaven and Faulkner women's basketball teams came into Thursday night as two of the hottest teams in the Southern States Athletic Conference. Unfortunately for Belhaven, it was the Eagles who kept the heat turned up. Faulkner sprinted out to an early double digit lead and never looked back, downing the Blazers 79-50 in an Southern States Athletic Conference West Division matchup.

Faulkner looked the part of a Top 25 team on Thursday night. The Eagles released the sharpshooters early in the game with a barrage of three-pointers by Christina Hayes and Leticia Cuellar.

Belhaven attempted to counter with an attack of triples, but the shots fell off target. Every time the Blazers looked to have easy points, the ball would take an unlucky bounce out of the hoop and back to the Eagles.

A combination of Faulkner's hot shooting and Belhaven's bad luck led to a 43-18 lead for the Eagles at the end of the first half.

Things did not get any easier in the second half for the Blazers with the Eagles continuing to showcase an arsenal of rangy shooters. Hayes and Shannon Evans were relentless in their offensive attack until Faulkner pushed their lead to over 30 points only a few minutes in the second half.

The Blazers valiantly tried to claw their way back into the match by putting together an 8-0 run, but the Eagles attack was too much to overcome.

Ashley Wakefield got back to her high scoring ways with a 15 points and four rebound performance from her small forward spot. Alisha Rayborn was the only other player in double figures with 10 points.

Tashayla Steede paced Belhaven on the glass with a solid 10 rebound night.

Hayes had a game high 18 points for Faulkner.

The Blazers will look to return to the win column in the SSAC when they travel to Mobile, Alabama for a showdown with Spring Hill on Saturday. Belhaven ousted the Badgers at Rugg Arena three weeks ago by the final of 75-58.