MONTGOMERY, Ala. - Faulkner's (10-4, 2-2 SSAC) 33 points from behind the arc proved the deciding factor in its 76-72 victory over Southern States Athletic Conference foe William Carey (3-5, 1-2 SSAC) here at Tine Davis Gymnasium this afternoon.

Hannah Vest was lights-out from deep territory knocking down 7-of-11 en route to a season-high 23 points. Nine of Faulkner's first 11 points were as a result of her perfect 3-for-3 start from downtown. The junior also had three rebounds in the outing.

China Leary was also a crucial weapon for the Lady Eagles posting 14 points along with four rebounds and assists.

Kayla Tillman had eight points, six of which were from 3-point land, and added a pair of boards.

Brandy Alley co-led the floor alongside William Carey's Shania Posey with 10 rebounds and added six points.

Posey was electric for the Crusaders recording a double-double by adding a court-high 28 points to her rebounding tally. The junior shot 72 percent in the ball game and her efforts down the stretch helped dig the visitors out a major jam. Despite booking only eight points in the second half, six of them came while trailing the Eagles by 12 with eight minutes to play. Her final field goal of the outing cut the home lead to just two points, but the Crusaders were never able to tighten the gap further.

"Well, that's SSAC play," said head coach Reed Sutton after the game. "You'd like to put it away when it looks like you've got it, but they came back and we had to stick to the game plan and gut out the win. Nothing we saw today really surprised us. I think the girls got a little too worried about Posey early on. She's not really a big time 3-point threat, but she hit two so we started to pay a little too much attention to her. She's got a great touch and she's an excellent player, but we got a little away from what we should have been doing and I thought we did a better job in the second half."

When asked about Vest's performance, Sutton was happy to see her finally set things ablaze.

"She's such a solid player, on both ends of the floor," he said. "She deserved to have a game like that. She's capable of hitting those shots and when she was hitting them early, the girls started looking for her. It's also nice that we have other threats as well like Tillman and a few other because once they started keying in on Vest we could look at other options. But I'm happy for her, she had an outstanding game."

Faulkner will next host conference rival Mobile at Tine Davis Gym at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday.