JACKSON, Miss. – The Belhaven women's basketball team dropped an American Southwest Conference contest to the Hardin Simmons University Cowgirls, 83-59, Thursday evening inside Rugg Arena.

The Cowgirls jumped out to an early 7-0 lead in the opening minutes of the game, but the Blazers rallied back to tie the contest up 9-9 midway through the first quarter. HSU closed the first quarter going on a 13-2 to make the score 22-11 at the end of the first frame. The Cowgirls continued to shoot well from the floor in the second quarter to extend their lead by 20 points with 2:55 remaining in the half. The Blazers chipped away at their lead, but HSU held on to a 42-28 lead going into the break.

Both teams went back and forth for most of the third quarter, but the Cowgirls outshot the Blazers 12-11 in the quarter to give them the 54-39 lead going into the final quarter of regulation. Hardin Simmons finished strong to defeat the Blazers by a final score of 83-59.

Janae Collier led the Blazers with 18 points and shot 50 percent from three point range, while Mariah Collins chipped in 14 points and shot 45 percent from the floor. Shanda Pugh added eight points in the contest tied for a team-high eight rebounds.Ladedra Bryant was the other Blazer to finish the night with eight rebounds. As a team, the Blazers shot 16-for-24 from the charity stripe and scored 24 points in the paint.

With the loss, the Blazers fall to 3-7 overall and 1-5 in conference play.

Belhaven will return to action on Friday, February 5 against the McMurry University Warhawks inside Rugg Arena. Tip-off is set for 6:00 p.m.

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