Box Score MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The Belhaven women's basketball team saw the 2013-14 season come to a close on Wednesday afternoon, falling to Emmanuel College 83-70 in the opening round of the Southern States Athletic Conference Championships in the Multiplex at the Cramton Bowl. The Blazers couldn't overcome a slow start to and never found a rhythm against a tough Lions defense.

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"They did a great job taking away our post play and we didn't have firepower to overcome it," Belhaven Head Coach Rusty Cram said. "They hit the shots they had to make and controlled the game from start to finish. I'm proud of our team for playing hard and putting together a great second half of the season to make it here to the tournament. It was a tough way to end the year, but our players came together down the stretch and I'm proud of their effort."

Emmanuel's (18-13) defense was strong at the outset, holding Belhaven (15-16) to nine points through the first 10 minutes of the opening period. Trailing 23-9, the Blazers managed to keep things from getting completely out of control, giving them a chance to rally late in the half.

The Lions built their largest lead of the first half with 3:38 to go, on a field goal by Jebreal Alford to make it a 36-21 contest. However, Belhaven found some momentum on offense and outscored Emmanuel 15-5 to close the half. Freshman Ariel Wilson scored eight of the 15 Belhaven points and sophomore Meagan Davis capped the scoring with a triple in the right corner, slicing the deficit to 41-36 when the buzzer sounded.

Unfortunately, the momentum didn't carry over into the second half. Emmanuel quickly established a double digit lead just over three minutes into final period. Joreshica Martin connected on a two point bucket to make it 50-40 before the Lions eventually went up by 20 points (65-45) on a triple from Timia Reynolds. Belhaven could get no closer than 13 points the rest of the way.

The Blazers were led by Wilson, who poured in a game high 25 points. Senior Jessica Tripplet contributed 13 points while senior Erika LeFlore chipped in eight points and a game high 13 rebounds. Junior TaShayla Steede posted seven points and eight rebounds while junior Kenya Wright dished out five assists.

As a team, Emmanuel limited Belhaven to a 33.9% shooting clip from the field (21-62) and out-rebounded the Blazers 43-37. Belhaven went to the free throw line 31 times and converted 21 of the attempts (67.7%).

Emmanuel had a balanced attack with six different players scoring 10 points or more. Martin paced the pack with 15 points and nine rebounds followed by Skye Rogers with 12 points and six boards. Reynolds ended the day with 11 points while Jebreal Alford Ashley Skelton and Georgia Brown each recorded 10 points. The Lions knocked down 40% of their field goal attempts (26-65) and converted 75% of their shots at the charity stripe (24-32). Emmanuel and Belhaven both had identical numbers from behind the arc with each side hitting 35% of their triples (7-20).

Emmanuel's season continues into Thursday when the team faces Loyola University (La) in the quarterfinal in Montgomery.