HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Faulkner led from pillar to post Saturday in a crucial 81-73 victory over SSAC William Carey that sees the Lady Eagles end the weekend in a four-way tie for fourth place in the conference.

Channing Gafford (JR/Athens, Ala.) made the opening bucket of the game on a three-pointer and Faulkner went on to run its lead to as many as 20 points before the end of the first quarter. The Lady Eagles held a 24-6 advantage coming out of the opening frame and stretched it to 40-24 by the halftime break.

The hosting Crusaders worked it down to a nine-point deficit late in the third quarter on back-to-back threes from Cotoria Blackman and Rebekah Engle. William Carey mounted a 10-1 run from the 1:54 mark in the fourth quarter until Rachel Tbomspon made the final Crusader field goal with 25 seconds left.

With the lead newly sliced to four points, the Lady Eagles iced the game at the free throw line with four makes from the combination of Micala Fisanick (SO/Troy, Ala.) and Ashlyn Adkins (JR/Locust Fork, Ala.).

Faulkner notched the win despite turning the ball over 26 times and allowing 16 William Carey offensive rebounds that resulted in 69 Crusader shot attempts. William Carey won the rebounding battle 37-36, the bench second chance points comparison 30-20, and the bench points differential 45-12.

Faulkner took the win by holding William Carey to 34.8 percent shooting from the floor and 25 percent from three and countering with scintillating percentages of its own. The Lady Eagles hit 51.1 percent of their shots from the floor and made 12 threes at a clip of 52.2 percent while also knocking down 23 free throws at an 82.1 percent mark.

Fisanick paced Faulkner with a career high 25 points to go along with six rebounds. Gafford added 19 points while Adkins had 13 points, six rebounds and three assists. Olivia Colson (SO/Thompson's Station, Tenn.) notched seven points and 10 boards.

Thompson topped William Carey with 20 points and 18 rebounds. Engle added 16 points while Tamia Stinson had 14.

Faulkner (17-12, 7-8 SSAC) returns to action next Saturday at noon when its wraps the regular season against Martin Methodist on what will be both Senior Night and Homecoming.