BLUE MOUNTAIN, Miss. - Tipping off 2026 on the road with an SSAC contest, Faulkner (10-4, 4-1 SSAC) withstood counterpunches to each offensive it landed on Blue Mountain Christian (7-6, 2-4 SSAC). The Lady Eagles whittled down the deficit little by little until Morgan Holland DeWitt stole a pass at the edge of the paint and called timeout as the Toppers were going for the kill shot. On the ensuing possession, Sydney Steward drove into the paint, causing BMCU's Kathryn Echols to come inside and collapse off Avery Rogers waiting behind the arc, and Steward found Rogers in the right corner with a hook shot over the defender. On her birthday, the sophomore sharpshooter from Prattville, Ala., whose three shots all came from long-range this afternoon, launched a trey that bounced on the rim and backboard and fell through with 10 seconds left for the winning score.
Winning the shooting battle in the first and last quarters was enough for Faulkner to outdo the hosts 46.6% to 37.9% from the field and just enough from three 35% to 33.3%. Based on the numbers, it would appear to be a dominating opening period for the Lady Eagles by dint of winning the offensive battle 57.14% to 38.1%, scoring the same number of field goals on seven less shots. However, the Toppers took a 20-18 lead into the second on a Lena Taylor triple as they took advantage of five turnovers and six fouls.
Faulkner twice retook the lead in the second quarter, the second with a 6-0 run, but BMCU beat the guests back both times with runs of six and seven points, respectively, and led 33-27 at the half. The third quarter was mostly evenly matched as the teams traded runs, and the Toppers led by five going into the final period.
The Lady Eagles were just hitting their second wind, as they won from the floor 61.54% to 37.5% and 75% to 40% from three and outscored the Toppers 23-17 in the frame. Faulkner twice scored five straight points and got within a bucket five times, the final time leading to DeWitt tying the game on a pair of free throws after her second steal of the day. Maddie Kirk restored the BMCU lead with a jumper with 2:15 left before Grace Anne Rose tied it back on a layup 20 seconds later. 11 seconds after that, Taylor answered with a layup off the Kirk dish, leading to the winning sequence. On the final possession after the Rogers three, the layup attempt from Echols rimmed out as the buzzer sounded.
Faulkner doubled BMCU's output from the paint 36-18 and took points off turnovers 15-11. Once again, the Lady Eagles' depth showed out, as their bench outscored the Toppers' reserves 23-2. Ruthie Smith and DeWitt tied for the team lead with 12 points, with Smith putting up eight rebounds and a block and DeWitt pouring in five boards and three steals. Steward racked up 11 points, six assists and four boards. Rogers scored nine, all from three, and Brett Douglas scored eight, all from inside or the stripe, as well as four boards, two assists, a block and a steal.
Faulkner returns to the Magnolia State a week from today to take on receiving votes William Carey in Hattiesburg for a 5:30 pm tip.
