HATTIESBURG, Miss. - Faulkner (10-5, 4-2 SSAC) finished the first quarter tied with the leading squad in the SSAC in William Carey (13-0, 4-0 SSAC) before faltering down the stretch in an 84-64 loss at Clinton Gymnasium on Thursday night.
The Lady Crusaders claimed most of the statistical advantages, including 47.1% to 42.3% on field goal percentage, 35.5% to 31.8% on three-point attempts and 71.4% to 54.2% on free throws. The Lady Eagles only won the shooting battle in the second quarter, and the hosts made up for it with two more triples and six more free throws to outscore Faulkner 21-13 in the period to take the lead into the locker room.
Faulkner tallied eight steals, six of them in the opening quarter and four of them in the first two minutes. Keyarra Scottland came up with the first three of them, which led to a 2-0 Faulkner lead on free throws by herself and Morgan Holland DeWitt. The lead could have been more if not for a 2-6 mark at the stripe in the opening two minutes. The fourth steal came via Brett Douglas, and the freshman forward earned the defensive rebound on the next possession and the offensive board off her own miss before scoring a jumper with 7:30 on the clock for the first field goal of the game. A 9-2 Carey run gave them the lead before Scottland answered with a jumper and three free throws following her fourth steal of the young game and one by Sydney Steward.
Shaneal Corpuz tied the game 11-11 off a pair of free throws before hitting a three and Ruthie Smith responding with a trey of her own. The Lady Crusaders then opened the second quarter with a 15-1 run thanks to three triples, one by Addyson Sherer and two by Brooklyn Cuevas, the first of Cuevas's coming on a possession following her pair of free throws thanks to a Smith technical foul. Faulkner pulled the deficit to single digits twice in the quarter on a 5-0 Smith run that spanned 1:31 and a buzzer-beating trey from Scottland to end the half. DeWitt opened the second half with a layup off a Scottland board before Carey took control again with a 9-0 run thanks to a pair of triples by Sherer and an and-one by Corpuz.
Sherer, Corpuz and Cuevas scored in double figures with 20, 16 and 15 points, respectively. Charlie Gamberine added 10 off the bench. Scottland led Faulkner with 16 points. Smith put up 15 points and eight rebounds. DeWitt added eight points and five boards.
With today's results, the Lady Eagles now head to New Orleans to take on the No. 2 team in the SSAC in Loyola, who moved up to the spot with Faulkner's loss, on Saturday at noon.
