Box Score
MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The Belhaven women's basketball team had its 2012-13 season come to a close on Thursday night in the quarterfinals of the Southern States Athletic Conference tournament. The Blazers, the number three seed in the West Division, lost to the second seed in the East Southern Polytechnic State University 70-59.
 
Belhaven (13-17) threatened to avenge a 51-37 loss in November to Southern Poly (24-4) after a strong first half at the Crampton Bowl Sports Multiplex. The Blazers scored the first four points of the game on field goals by junior Erika Leflore and senior Ashley Wakefield. The Hornets took their turn at holding a four point edge when they went on top 12-8 with 11:50 remaining in the first half.
 
Belhaven countered with a 6-0 run capped by another Wakefield bucket with just over 10 minutes to play until the break, giving the Blazers a 14-12 edge. It didn't last long as Southern Poly regained its footing by reeling off seven straight points en route to a 19-14 advantage.
 
Short scoring bursts characterized the majority of the first half until Belhaven outgunned the Hornets 15-3 over the course of six minutes late in the half. Senior Sarah Carr sparked the offense during the stretch with a pair of triples and a two point field goal, accounting for eight of the 15 points. Wakefield fired in a triple and added another two point bucket to lend a helping hand to Carr. When the dust had settled, the Blazers found themselves in front 29-22 with 2:46 left in the half.
 
Unfortunately, Southern Poly found new life in the final two minutes of the half scoring six straight to close the deficit to 29-28 at break.
 
Sarah Ogoke gave the Hornets their first lead since the five minute mark of the first half when she opened the second half with a layup six seconds into the action. Senior Alisha Rayborn answered a few seconds later for Belhaven with a layup of her own, generating what would be the final edge of the night for the Blazers at 31-30.
 
Arnissa Galloway then started what would become a 16-2 game changing run for the Hornets when she dropped in a layup off an assist from Ashlie Billigslea. Leading 32-31, Southern Poly scored 14 of the games next 16 points en route to establishing a 46-33 lead with 12:37 left.
 
The Blazers couldn't recover and trailed by more than 10 points for the majority of the second half. A pair of free throws by Wakefield cut the deficit back to nine points at 68-59 in the final minute, but unfortunately it was too little too late.
 
Wakefield led the Blazers with 15 points while adding eight rebounds in the season finale. Rayborn followed with 11 points and Carr ended the night with 10 points.
 
Carr capped a stellar career by becoming just the ninth player in program history to surpass 1,000 points for her career with 1,011. She is also Belhaven's career leader in three point shooting, knocking down 210 triples during her four years in a Blazer uniform.
 
Sophomore TaShayla Steede led Belhaven on the boards with 11 rebounds.
 
As a team, the Blazers shot at a 32.8% clip from the field (20-61) and were on target with 23.5% of their three point shots (4-17). Belhaven converted 71.4% percent of their attempts from the foul line (15-21). The Blazers out-rebounded Southern Poly 47-37.
 
The Hornets were led by Ogoke off the bench with 27 points and 10 rebounds, Billigslea chipped in 13 points and Galloway also posted a double double with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Erica Turner contributed 10 points and four rebounds. Southern Poly hit only 36.5% of their field goals (23-63), but what proved to be the difference in the game was three point shooting. The Hornets blistered the nets from behind the arc at a 64.7% shooting clip. They were 11 of 17 for the game and 8 of 11 in the second half.
 
Southern Poly advances to the SSAC semifinals on Friday to take on Emmanuel who upset Faulkner in the quarterfinals 74-69. The Blazers will now turn their attention to the offseason as they prepare for the 2013-14 season.