HATTIESBURG, Miss. – The William Carey Women's Basketball Team pulled away late to defeat Tougaloo College 75-60 Monday night at Clinton Gym.
After a scoreless minute to start the game,
Kolten Blakeney opened the scoring with a layup to put Carey on the board. Tougaloo followed with a layup of their own and things went back and forth until the four-minute mark when
Leah Sutton drained a three point basket to put WCU up 13-10. Two minutes would pass before another basket would go in with Sutton making a jumper in the paint to give the Lady Crusaders a five-point lead with that score holding until the end of the quarter.
The second quarter started just like the first with over a minute passing before either team would score and those points would come in the form of a pair of free throws for Tougaloo.
Daydria Cuevas followed those with a layup for WCU and after the Carey defense forced a turnover,
Addyson Sherer put the Lady Crusaders up 20-12 with a three pointer.
Over the next six minutes, Carey maintained a comfortable lead but in the final two minutes with WCU holding a 29-24 lead, the Bulldogs picked up the defensive pressure cutting the deficit to just 29-27. With time winding down in the quarter, Blakeney put Carey up 31-27 and the Lady Crusader defense forced a turnover on Tougaloo's next possession to take the four-point lead into the break.
Coming out of the break, Carey made offensive adjustments to manage the full court press by the Bulldogs and it paid off, as four different Lady Crusaders combined for ten unanswered points, stretching the WCU lead to 41-27 halfway through the quarter. However, the Bulldogs settled back in and answered with an 8-1 run to get within seven points with just over two minutes remaining. Over the final two minutes of the quarter both teams traded shots with the Lady Crusaders taking a 47-41 lead into the final quarter of play.
Carey got off to a hot start in the fourth, as
Shaneal Corpuz,
Leah Sutton, and Blakeney combined for fourteen straight points to push the Carey lead to 61-41 and they never looked back, cruising to a 75-60 victory.
Kolten Blakeney led the way offensively, finishing with 26 points and ten rebounds.
Shaneal Corpuz also finished with a double double with twelve points and thirteen rebounds while
Leah Sutton added twenty points.
Carey is back in action Thursday, November 21, as they head to Thomasville, Ga. to take on Thomas University in SSAC action. Play is set to begin at 4:30 pm.
