Box Score PULASKI, Tenn. - The Belhaven women's basketball team punched its ticket to the Southern States Athletic Conference tournament with a thrilling 84-79 double overtime win at Martin Methodist College. It was the second upset of a 20 plus win team this week by the Blazers, who defeated Loyola Thursday night in Rugg Arena. Belhaven finished fifth in the SSAC West Division, a game ahead of Blue Mountain College.

(Box Score-HTML)
"The players fought so hard through some pretty tough situations today," Belhaven Head Coach Rusty Cram said. "Ariel Wilson was outstanding and Erika LeFlore played with a heavy heart. They were a joy to coach today and they showed a lot of passion, heart, and pride."

Belhaven (15-15, 9-11 SSAC) faced adversity early when Martin Methodist (22-8, 14-6 SSAC) stormed out to a 16-2 lead six minutes into the game. Due to the early deficit, the Blazers found themselves down by double digits until late in the first half.

Trailing 30-17 with just under six minutes remaining, the Blazers began to turn their fortunes around. Belhaven proceeded to outscore the Redhawks 15-6 to pull within four at the break 36-32. Junior Kenya Wright started the run with a pair of free throws and freshman Ariel Wilson scored two of her game high 32 points just before the buzzer to close the half.

Belhaven scored the first four points of the second half to tie the game at 36-36. Then freshman Candler Gregory gave the Blazers their first lead at 37-36, converting a free throw with 17:16 to go in the second period. At that point, the contest proved to be a back forth battle as evidenced by six ties and 11 lead changes.

Both teams had their opportunities to clinch the game, but none bigger than Martin Methodist at the end of regulation. With the game tied and one second on the clock, a Belhaven foul put Janasia Williams on the free throw line needing one make to win the game. Both shots were off target, giving Belhaven new life heading into overtime tied 69-69.

Each team had leads in the first overtime, but none were big enough to create any major separation. The Blazers jumped in front 71-69 on a bucket by Wright only to see Martin Methodist eventually pull back ahead 73-72 with 1:44 to go. Wilson would extend the game again on a free throw with 37 seconds left, knotting the score at 73-73. The Redhawks had the final shot, but this time Kelsey Nowlin misfired on a field goal attempt with nine seconds, leaving the game tied again.

Late in the second overtime, Belhaven was finally able to put a big enough run together to lock down the win. With the score tied 78-78, the Blazers outscored the Redhawks 6-1 during the final 1:44. A field goal by senior Erika LeFlore gave the Belhaven the lead for good with 45 seconds on the clock. She then sealed the 84-79 win with two free throws at the charity stripe in the final 19 seconds.
Wilson led Belhaven with 32 points followed by LeFlore with 14 and Wright with 10. LeFlore just missed a double double thanks to nine rebounds. Junior TaShayla Steede dropped in nine points, earned five rebounds, and deflected four Martin Methodist shot attempts.

Belhaven shot 39.7% from the floor (29-73) and converted 67.6% of the attempts from the free throw line (23-34). The Blazers were out-rebounded 68-42, but the defense held Martin Methodist to a 29.2% clip from the field (26-89). From an offensive perspective, the Blazers owned the paint scoring 36 of their points from point blank range.

Martin Methodist had five players in double figures, paced by Tyffani Fenwick with 20 points. Williams chipped in 16, Kyra Knight added 12, Rachel Brown posted 11, and Nowlin rounded things out with 10. All five players were starters in Saturday's contest. The majority of the rebounding production came off the bench with Kyoko Wade and Gloria Jeter hauling down 13 and 12 boards respectively.

Belhaven will head to Montgomery, Alabama on Wednesday to battle Emmanuel College in the opening round of the SSAC tournament at 2:00 PM. Emmanuel is the fourth seed from the SSAC East Division.