It was a joyous day for the St. Andrews women's basketball team as they took on the Columbia Koalas of the AAC Conference this afternoon at Harris Court in Laurinburg, NC. The Knights were able to capture their first win of the young season, thanks to shooting an astounding 57% percent from beyond the three point line. The Knights were able to take the victory in a final score of 57-51 in a game which also had a great display of defense from either side.
Knights starting point guard Chelsey Grant (Pembroke Pines, FL) opened up the offensive scoring for St. Andrews today as she made the games first basket to give the Knights an early 2-0 lead. Frances Glover-Bey (Baltimore, MD) hit a deep ball moments later, something the Knights would do a lot of throughout the match as they finished the night going 8-14 from three point range in the contest.
As the first quarter wore on, the Koalas were able to sustain some good offense for themselves as well. Makayla Salliey (Baltimore, MD) hit a last second jumper before the quarter ended as the final score sat at 14-10 with the Koalas in the lead after the end of the first quarter.
It would be the Koalas who opened the second quarter strong as Carnasia Wells hit the opening shot with a three ball to give Columbia a 17-10 lead. As the Knights fell into a bit of an offensive rut, it wouldn't be until there was 4:46 left in the quarter that Makayla Salliey was able to hit a free throw to help pull the offense back together.
Just when the Knights needed it most Samantha Tougher (Ontario, Canada) and Alise Akridge (Covington, GA) were able to hit back to back three balls in the quarter. As the teams battled closely, Alise Akridge was able to convert on a final layup in order to send both teams into the halftime break tied at 24 apiece.
At the start of the third quarter it took either side three minutes to make a basket as the Koalas instilled a full court press after halftime, to turn the game into a defensive, hard-nosed type of contest. Ashley Starks (Manchester, TN) was able to break the deadlock when she hit a three pointer with 7:16 remaining in the third quarter to give the Knights a lead.
Two more baskets from Ashley Starks and a layup from Makayla Salliey really helped the Knights catch their offensive stride in the quarter. The Knights were able to shoot 6-11 from the field as a team in the quarter, and a long range jumper from Makayla Salliey helped the Knights carry a 38-33 lead going into the final frame.
Chelsey Grant was able to open the fourth quarter with a quick jumper, however the Koalas were able to slowly trim away at the deficit and ultimately worked the score to 43-40 in the Knights favor.
A couple quick buckets from Melissa Tougher (Ontario, Canada) and AJ Price (Charlotte, NC) set the score to 45-42 with five minutes remaining. The Koalas were able to cut it down methodically all the way to 53-51 with the Knights barely holding on. Some clutch free throws from Ashley Starks and Chelsey Grant ensured that the Knights would walk away victorious on the day.
The Knights do have one final game remaining before the Thanksgiving holiday as they travel to Winthrop University in Rock Hill, SC on Wednesday, November 23rd. The contest is slated to tipoff at 5:00 PM.
Original source can be found here.
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