MARIETTA, Ga. – The Lady Eagles trailed by as many as 18 and were down double digits nearly the entirety of the second half before a late charge fell short in a 78-72 loss to Life Thursday night. In the first matchup between the programs as SSAC foes, the Running Eagles took the lead on the opening bucket of the game and never ceded it.
A Haley Gantt three just before the halftime buzzer moved the advantage to 11 and an 18-11 run to open the third quarter stretch the margin to its apex. Fapou Semebene made the first shot of the fourth quarter to set the margin at 16 before Faulkner charged back into the game.
"I was proud of our kids for competing and believing all the way to the final buzzer," Faulkner Head Coach
Reed Sutton said. "But the fact is we got beat in every possible way today. Life deserves all the credit for having toughness, a ton of energy, and shooting it well. Tip of the cap to the Coach (Ashawnte) Hawkins and her team."
The Lady Eagles embarked on a 17-4 run to get the deficit all the way down to three.
Evaiah Burrows and
Morgan Holland ignited the stretch with a pair of three-pointers while
Lanie Henderson and
Nequoia Adams chipped in buckets as well.
Neely Johns drained a pair of free throws with 3:38 to play and Faulkner suddenly found itself behind just 71-68.
From there, the Lady Eagles missed their next three shots from the floor as it went scoreless for the next three minutes of action. Johns made two more free throws in the waning seconds ahead of a Holland layup that cut the margin back to five.
Life won the rebounding battle 39-33 while also forcing 15 Faulkner turnovers. Life shot 42.6 percent from the floor in the game and cashed in 12 out of 18 looks at the free throw line. Faulkner shot 41 percent from the field and made 14 of 22 attempts at the stripe.
Holland topped all scorers with 21 points, all of which came in the second half. Adams added 16 points.
Angela Grant finished with 10 rebounds.
Faulkner (11-2, 3-1 SSAC) returns to action Friday, Dec. 30 when it travels to Point University.
