MONTGOMERY, Ala. – A 22-8 first quarter, along with a couple of broken records by Ashlyn Adkins, helped the Faulkner Lady Eagles rebound from a season-opening loss and defeat the Lady Eagles of Pensacola Christian 83-60 in the team's home opener at Tine Davis Gymnasium.

Faulkner, with a 43.3 percent mark on field goal attempts and 40.7% on 3-pointers, held the visitors to just a 31.7 percent and a 26.7 percent mark, and the latter only made four of 15 shots in the first quarter with a 0-9 mark on long-range shots. The home team's offense took advantage, by way of making half of its shots and four of its seven threes. Adkins's three opened the scoring for her team, erasing Pensacola Christian's only lead of the contest, and she and Channing Gafford each made their first three attempts from beyond the arc.

After the super senior guard from Locust Fork, Ala., broke the program records for assists and made threes last season, two more marks were achieved at the hands of Adkins. In the next minute following her opening points, she registered two of her three steals in the contest, and the second gave her 135 for her career, pushing her past Olivia Adamson for the most thefts in program history. Additionally, with 4:39 remaining in the game, she hit her fifth long-range shot of the night. With this, she hit 19 points for the night and another milestone. Already in second-place in all-time scoring, having moved past Christina Hayes's 1,466 career points, Adkins is now one of just two Lady Eagles to score 1,500 points in her time at Faulkner, and she sits behind Brittney Carter's 1753.

Adkins's opening shot began a 20-4 run that put the game out of reach before the second quarter began and made the result hold up, despite the visiting Eagles outscoring the home team 21-19 in the second period. Jenna Wolford opened the second-half scoring with a three for the visitors, but Morgan Holland responded with an offensive rebound and an and-one, coming via a highlight-reel shot thrown straight above the basket while falling on her back. Faulkner won the third quarter 18-12 and coasted, with reserves subbing in freely and logging ample playing time as the second half carried on.

Faulkner outrebounded Pensacola Christian 48-33, and won points in the paint 24-14. Both teams committed 21 turnovers; Faulkner scored seven fast break points to two, but Pensacola Christian led points off turnovers 20-7.  The hosts' bench contributed 34 points, while the visitors' reserves only scored three, with their starters shouldering most of the load in the match.

Adkins's 19 points, with five makes on eight shots from long-distance, three steals and 10 defensive rebounds led the team. Holland scored 12 points and six boards, while Gafford racked up nine points with three of four three-ball attempts, two assists and seven rebounds. Megan Wilkinson tallied nine points and five boards, and Micala Fisanick dished out five assists. Several freshmen playing in their first home game came up big, but especially Josie Edwards and Nequoia Adams, the former with 16 points and five rebounds, and the latter with seven points and four assists.

Pensacola Christian's core was almost the same as when the programs faced off last year, and the visiting Eagles showed out once again because of them. Sandy McElhaney racked up 15 points, seven rebounds and three blocks. Lauran Alvarez scored 15 of her own, along with five boards and two assists. Wolford's stat line was next, with 14 points, three steals and six boards. Sindy McElhaney and Leah Phelps had eight and five points, respectively.

Now at 1-1, the hosts now head into the annual Jimmy Faulkner Classic this weekend, where they will play Louisiana College on Friday and Thomas (Ga.) on Saturday; the men's team will tip off their season in the event on Friday. After the Christian College Classic and two more road games, the Lady Eagles will make the return trip to Pensacola, where they will try to continue the streak against Pensacola Christian; with tonight's win, all 12 of the all-time meetings between the programs have gone in favor of Faulkner.