MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Faulkner started its season in grand fashion Friday night as it held on amid a late surge from the reigning national champion and preseason No 1.
Sydney Steward scored four points in the final 25 seconds as the Lady Eagles dropped Marian 65-60.
Faulkner led by as many as 16 points in the second half and entered the fourth quarter with a 14-point advantage before the Knights ratcheted up the pressure to climb back into it.
A 14-4 Marian run by the 4:51 mark of the fourth quarter left the national champions down 54-50.
Ruthie Smith stemmed the tide with 3:36 left when she cashed in a
Brett Douglas dish for a triple to push the lead back to three possessions. Undaunted, Eva Fisher connected on a layup just 11 seconds later. After a pair of Steward free throws, Taylor Double knocked down a jumper and then a three to slice it to 59-57 with just 92 seconds remaining.
Smith came up big again with 1:11 left when she made both of her free-throw attempts to once again make it a two-possession game. The value of those makes showed quickly as Double drained another three with 57 seconds left to cut it to 61-60. Steward converted a layup with 25 seconds left to leave the pressure squarely on the Knights. Another three-point heave from Double missed its mark.
Avery Rogers grabbed the rebound. Marian got one more look at it late. It missed. Steward iced it with a rebound and two free throws.
When the final buzzer sounded, the Lady Eagles had beaten the No. 1 team in the country for the first time in program history. Faulkner won nearly every ancillary statistical category in a game in which it never trailed after the 7:19 mark of the second quarter when Smith hit a three to thrust her team into the lead. Rogers followed with a long-range shot of her own to help ignite the 20-5 run.
The Lady Eagles won the rebounding battle 35-50 and took bench points 14-8. They forced 15 turnovers from a Marian team that averaged less than 10 per game a season ago and parlayed those miscues into 15 points. Faulkner also took points in the paint 30-22 and second-chance points 11-9.
Smith paced the Lady Eagles with 23 points and eight rebounds. Rogers added 13 points while
GraceAnne Rose scored 10. Steward ended her night with eight points, eight rebounds, eight assists and five steals.
Faulkner (1-0) continues its Jimmy Faulkner Classic run Saturday at 5 p.m. when it hosts LSU-Alexandria.
