COCHRAN, Ga. – Faulkner posted 20-plus points in the second and fourth quarters Saturday to pull away from Middle Georgia and get to within one game of the SSAC East lead. After the squads played to a 12-all mark through the first 10 minutes of action, Ashlyn Adkins opened the second quarter with a three to put her team up. Channing Gafford followed with a long-range shot of her own to push the advantage to 18-12 before Rykia

Pennamon's personal 5-0 run cut it back to a one-point Lady Eagle lead. Faulkner ended the quarter on a 16-7 run that saw five different players score. The 10-point halftime lead grew to as high as 13 in the third quarter before Middle Georgia clawed itself back to within seven with 1:47 left in the period.

Jacie Andrews pushed it back to double figures with a three at the 1:25 mark. Morgan Holland's bucket with 23 seconds left in the quarter gave Faulkner the 11-point advantage.

Kassidy Broussard scored 15 seconds into the fourth quarter in Middle Georgia's final attempt to make a game of it again. A Destanee Wright three at the 9:17 mark cut the deficit to eight for the home team.

Gafford then knocked down a three before Holland made a pair of free throws to stretch it back to 13. Micala Fisanick cashed in an Andrews dime at the 8:04 mark to make it a 15point lead.

Middle went on a 5-0 mini run to cut it back to 10 before Ryann Sylvester answered a Jessica Belcher three with a triple of her own. Sylvester then scored twice more on successive trips to move the advantage to 16. Fisanick made three free throws to stretch it to 19. Back-to-back buckets from Gafford and Adkins gave Faulkner its largest lead of the day at 21 with 2:53 left.

Faulkner made 43 percent of its shots from the floor and 36.4 percent of its threes. The Lady Eagles also hit 26 of 34 free throw attempts, good for a 77 percent clip.

Conversely, Faulkner held Middle Georgia to 26 percent shooting from the floor on 73 attempts while also limiting MGA to just 18 percent from three on 39 shots. The Lady Eagles won the rebounding battle 46-37.

Gafford topped Faulkner with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Fisanick had 14 points. Sylvester finished with 12 points and eight rebounds. Holland had 11 points while Andrews finished with 10 points, nine rebounds and six assists.

Faulkner (8-8, 4-3 SSAC) sits one game behind Middle Georgia in the SSAC East standings. The Lady Eagles play again Monday night when they host Judson at 6 p.m.