MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The William Carey Women's Basketball Team pulled away late to defeat Faulkner University 78-70 Saturday afternoon.
"I thought we showed some toughness today against a very physical opponent in Faulkner," said Head Coach
Tracy English. "We made key stops late in the fourth quarter, and we were clutch from the free throw line."
Despite only shooting 27% from the floor and being out rebounded 17-9 in the first quarter, the Lady Crusaders only found themselves trailing by two in large part to a strong defensive effort that held the Eagles to just 31% shooting.
Carey opened the game with a three pointer by
Rose Warren and from there both teams went back and forth with neither leading by more than three points. With just under six minutes to play and Faulkner leading 10-7,
Jenna Garriga,
Kolten Blakeney, and
Madelyn Ladner combined for six straight points with
Leah Sutton picking up two steals to put Carey back in front with two minutes remaining. However, the Eagles closed the quarter with a 5-0 run to retake the lead 15-13.
After opening misses by both teams to start the second quarter, Sutton put WCU back in front with a three pointer from the right wing. Again, both teams with back and forth with the Lady Crusaders taking the largest lead at 26-21 midway through the quarter. Just like at the end of the first quarter though, Faulkner went on a 7-0 run this time over a two-minute span to retake the lead. The final minutes of the quarter saw the same battle with Carey taking a 31-30 lead into the break.
Coming out of the break, Carey came out with a renewed focus, slowly building another five-point lead at 39-34 on a
Shaneal Corpuz layup midway through the quarter. Again though, the Eagles fought their way back, taking a 43-42 lead with three minutes left. However, the Lady Crusaders responded with a 6-0 surge by Blakeney and Warren to retake the lead before taking a 54-48 lead into the final quarter of play.
The fourth quarter saw Carey in control from the start, pushing their lead to as many thirteen points on their way to victory. Nequoia Adams opened the scoring for Faulkner with a layup and converted the and one to cut the deficit to just three points. However, three different Lady Crusaders answered with seven straight points and from there the WCU offense was off and running. WCU ended the game shooting 47% but shot 54.5% in the fourth quarter when it mattered most.
Shaneal Corpuz led the attack with 24 points and seven rebounds with
Leah Sutton adding 15 points.
Rose Warren finished with eleven while
Jenna Garriga chipped in ten points.
The Lady Crusaders are back in action Thursday, January 23, as they head to Cochran, Ga. to take on Middle Georgia State in SSAC action.
