MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- Coming off a busy 3-game week last week, the Lady Scots looked to put another "W" in their record as they traveled to make up the game that was snowed out two weeks ago. Remembering back to the middle of December, the Lady Scots played the Lady Hawks as their final game of 2010 and were dealt a tough loss when Huntingdon controlled the last several possessions and made vital free throws to seal the 6 point win. The Lady Scots were looking forward to sweet revenge as they traveled the 3 plus hour trek south, looking for win number two on the season.
From the opening tip-off, the Lady Scots looked sluggish on both ends of the floor, though their first points came after a lay-up from senior Emily Dupree who has been a source of depth and energy from the bench since the end of volleyball season. The first lead for the Lady Scots came as point guard Kiaira Cooper hit two consecutive baskets, giving Covenant the slight edge at 10-9 with 6:08 remaining in the first half. But Huntingdon was having great success in the first half, penetrating the lane and using ball screens and pure speed to beat the Lady Scots defenders for easy looks. The tremendous defense of the Lady Scots showed up again late in the second half as they changed their sets and did not let the host Hawks score in the final three minutes. Though there was not a lot of scoring, Covenant found a three point lead as junior Christine Core drove hard to the rim made the layup with the foul and converted the free throw for the old-fashioned three point play. As the Lady Scots walked to the locker room, they passed the scoreboard that boasted a 3 point lead for the visitors.
Leading the way for Covenant was Kiaira Cooper and her 7 points followed by a handful of players that had made one shot apiece. Cooper and Jessie Blankenship both grabbed 5 boards each. The overall stats were not good at the Lady Scots only converted on 7 of 25 (28%) from the floor and only hit one three in the half, proving that the offensive struggles were team wide and did not fall on any one individual.
The second half seemed to be an offensive explosion for both teams, but the Lady Hawks were hitting on all cylinders as they continued to hit shot after shot, increasing their lead through the whole second half. As the clock read 17:11, the score was tied, and the lead would never find its way back to Covenant. Huntingdon shot over 50% from the field as they pushed their lead into double digits, and though the Lady Scots remained in the game, it was clear that the lead was never in jeopardy. Huntingdon was able to afford the Lady Scots 33 second half points by scoring 43 of their own, and the final score 59-52.
"It was disappointing for our team to come out and play well on the defensive end in the first half, and not be able to get it going offensively," commented head coach Corey Mullins. "We are a team that cannot afford to make the mistakes with the basketball that we made tonight. The encouraging thing is that I don't feel like we played great and we still had a chance in the end to get a couple of stops and get back into the game. We just have to start believing in our own abilities. Kiaira was good down the stretch. She kept us in it in the end. Mo also had a nice second half. The final piece to the puzzle for us is to play a full game and be consistent with our effort for 40 minutes."
Indeed, Cooper and Cross were the team's leading scorers tonight with 11 and 10, respectively. Jessie Blankenship finished with 9, failing to reach double figures for only the second time this year.
For Huntingdon, LaTerial Williams scored 15, while Kayla Northington and Raven Prater each posted 11. The rest of the Lady Hawks team only managed 22.
The Lady Scots have back to back games this weekend against Wesleyan and Salem Colleges. The games are scheduled for Friday at 7:00pm and Saturday at 6:00pm.
