Cochran, Ga. - The Lady Eagles headed to Middle Georgia State for a midweek SSAC game. Faulkner took on the Knights looking for their first conference win. The two teams kept the score close for the majority of the game. Faulkner found a late flurry of buckets in the fourth quarter to extend their lead and pick up the win over the Knights 75-58.
The Lady Eagles scored the first basket of the night with a layup from Dee Guinn. The Knights took the lead with a three-pointer from Zakyria Johnson. From there the two teams traded baskets back and forth. Middle Georgia held their lead until the 1:40 mark after Ella Jane Connell put a jumper in to take a 14-13 lead. Keyarra Scottland then put up a layup to push the lead 16-13. The Knights put up a layup on the next trip down to bring it back within one. Nequoia Adams put in a layup of her own to take the lead back to three but the Knights answered with a basket of their own to bring the score to 18-17 and the last point scored in the first quarter.
In the second quarter, the Lady Eagles found themselves up six for their largest lead of the game after another jumper from Connell. In the next few plays the Knights managed to bring the game back within two but before the end of the first half the Lady Eagles pushed their lead out to eight after an onslaught of baskets from Dee Guinn Grace Anne Rose and Ruthie Smith. The Lady Eagles then headed into the half up 37-29.
With the third quarter underway, the game started to swing in favor of the Lady Eagles as they continued to hold on to their lead and Smith put up 10 in the third after only scoring seven in the first half. The Knights kept it close though until the Lady Eagles pulled out to their biggest lead of the night at the end of the quarter. Faulkner led the Knights 59-49.
Early in the fourth quarter, the Knights brought it back within five but the Lady Eagles quickly ran the score back up to fifteen after several points from Smith and a layup from Adams. The Knights responded with a basket to pull within 13 but the Lady Eagles took their largest lead after another basket from Smith and a layup from Sarah Wisniowski. The Lady Eagles took the win on the road and picked up their first win in SSAC play, 75-58.
Ruthie Smith led the Lady Eagles in scoring and rebounds with 29 and 19. Smith ties her career high in scoring and sets a new career high in boards. Nequoia Adams added 13 points and six assists. Grace Anne Rose put up 12 points to round out the double-digit scoring for Faulkner. Faulkner had 23 bench points and 44 points in the paint. The Lady Eagles outshot the Knights from the floor 47.1 percent to 31.9 percent.
The Lady Eagles (7-9, SSAC 1-5) return to action as they travel to New Orleans on Saturday, Jan. 18 to take on the Wolf Pack. Tip off against Loyola is set for 12:00 p.m.
