Box Score
JACKSON, Miss. – The Belhaven women's basketball team completed an improbable upset of No. 24 Auburn-Montgomery at home on Saturday afternoon. Belhaven played gritty basketball in the first half and they were able to hold onto to a double digit lead in the second for the 55-51 victory.

Final minutes of close games have not been kind to the Blazers this season, especially in games against highly rated opponents.

Games against Bethel, Coastal Georgia and Freed-Hardeman all found the Blazers neck and neck with the top teams in the country. All of those games also had the commonality of Belhaven finishing on the wrong side of the final score. Even worse still was that the Blazers lost two of those contests on buzzer-beaters by the other teams in the waning seconds.

Belhaven (10-15, 7-7) hosted another ranked opponent on Saturday with an opportunity to try and play spoiler once again.

Hard work and lock-down defense kept the Blazers close in their earlier games against ranked opponents. It would be the catalyst to their success on Saturday as well.

The two teams found themselves struggling to find open shots during the first 10 minutes of the game, relying on turnovers to generate fast-break points. With nine minutes remaining in the first half, the Blazers led by a slim margin 9-7.

Auburn-Montgomery shook off a slow start offensively and converted points on their first four possessions following the final media timeout of the half. However, the Blazers picked up the pace as well, relying on Alisha Rayborn's ability to slice through the Warhawk defense for easy buckets.

The Warhawks (18-7, 10-4) held a 26-25 lead with seven seconds to play when Rayborn struck again, putting up a floater over LaKenya Drayton. The ball seemed to hold in the air for an eternity before it found the bottom of the net as time expired, giving the Blazers a 27-26 halftime lead.

A halftime buzzer-beater looked to give the Blazers a renewed energy coming out of the break.

Belhaven built up an 11 point lead only seven minutes into the second half behind the soft touch of Ashley Wakefield. The Blazers blitzed Auburn-Montgomery into a heated timeout as an attempt for the Warhawks to put Belhaven's momentum on ice.

Auburn-Montgomery chipped away at the Belhaven lead over the next five minutes, getting it to a much more manageable four-point deficit.

Wakefield would not allow the Warhawks to get too close. She put in another herculean second half effort, scoring 13 of her 17 points in the latter period. What Rayborn was able to do in the first half, Wakefield repeated in the second. Set plays or creating her own shot, Wakefield was un-coverable for a majority of the half.

The Warhawks would once again pose a threat in the final two minutes of the game as Ashley Rush hit two free throws to make a 53-51 game in Belhaven's favor.

Caitlin Cunningham blocked Alisha Rayborn's layup attempt with 20 seconds left and took the ball up the floor herself. Cunningham had a good look at the basket for the Warhawks, but could not convert on the attempt.

AUM's Katie Williams got Cunningham's miss, but her tying attempt was off as well.

Rayborn iced the game with two made shots from the charity stripe with less than a second to play in the game for the 55-51 victory.

Drayton had an impressive performance for the Warhawks in the losing effort, scoring 12 points and hauling in 10 rebounds. Psachal Maize led the Warhawks with 16 points on the afternoon.

Rayborn finished with four points in the second half and 16 for the game. She also dished out two assists.

Erika Leflore had a quietly efficient game with 11 points and six rebounds.

The Blazers will look to avenge another loss on Thursday when they travel to Mobile, Alabama to take on the Rams. Mobile defeated the Blazers 60-44 at Rugg Arena back in January.