After a slow start on the offensive end, Faulkner averaged 23 points per quarter for the final 30 minutes of the game on the way to a 74-50 victory over Thomas Sunday afternoon. The Lady Eagles managed only five points in the first quarter before finding its offensive stride.

"Our defense was good. We just missed some shots. I thought we got some good shots in there. It wasn't like we were completely discombobulated," Sutton said of the Faulkner first quarter. "We were going to try to get into a flow and just spread the floor. More than anything, it was just settling down. They were really amped up to play. The shots weren't falling but we had really good flow the rest of the game."

An Emiah Downie three with 3:59 remaining in the second quarter put Thomas up 22-16. That was the last field goal for the Nighthawks until the 4:37 mark in the third period. Faulkner managed a 28-1 run over that stretch to all but put the game away.

"I thought we really executed our defensive game plan well. A couple of their players hit a couple of threes that kind of caught us by surprise in that first half. Other than that, we were doing a really good job on their right-handed drivers and on their left-handed drivers," Sutton said. "Our posts were doing a really good job of directing traffic. I just think we had a really good game plan for them defensively and our players executed it perfectly. Fortunately, they missed some shots too. We were trying to force their low-percentage shooters to shoot and, fortunately, they were missing."
Ashlyn Adkins started the run with a three before making a pair of free throws. Jacie Andrews tied the game at the 2:27 mark of the second quarter before Morgan Holland parlayed an Adkins dish into a bucket at 2:11 for the 24-22 Faulkner lead. Holland added another basket off of one of the seven Channing Gafford assists to push the lead to 26-22. Ryann Sylvester then added two more shots to end the half on a 14-0 run.

After an Alisha Clayton free throw to open the scoring in the third quarter, Gafford drained a three to put Faulkner up 33-23. Sylvester followed with a make before Gafford dished to Adkins for a shot that move the advantage to 14. Micala Fisanick, Megan Wilkinson and Evaiah Burrows then accounted for the next seven Faulkner points to move the lead to 44-23 before Thomas got back into the scoring column.
After shooting a paltry 13 percent from the floor in the first quarter, Faulkner ended the day at 40 percent from the field and 32 percent from three. The Lady Eagles won points in the paint 32-16 and took bench scoring 29-11.

Adkins topped Faulkner with 14 points, three rebounds, three assists and four blocks. Sylvester added 13 points and six rebounds. Burrows tallied 13 points and five rebounds.
Faulkner returns to play Tuesday when it resumes SSAC competition against Middle Georgia at 5 p.m. in what will be the fourth meeting of the season between the squads.

"I expect the same thing we've expected the last three games, which is a really, really good rebounding team. If I was disappointed in anything today, it would be our rebounding. They had 14 offensive rebounds. Honestly, if Thomas is going to get 14, Middle Georgia is going to get 20. We've got to tighten that up," Sutton said of the impending match-up. "We know them well. They know us well. Really, it's one of those things where you tip it up. Your best players have to play well and you have to find an X-factor kid in there somewhere that just has a good game."