LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN -- With a recently achieved second win under their belts, the Lady Scots looked forward to continuing the hot shooting streak for another night as they welcomed the Spirits from Salem College on Saturday night. These two teams met in early January, and Covenant found the composure late to seal the win in Winston Salem, North Carolina. This time, the Lady Scots held on to the big lead they had made in the first half and won easily 73-53.
Coming off a home win for the first time this season, the Lady Scots looked to remain strong from the opening tip, but within seconds Salem had gotten the tip and made a lay-up, stealing the first points of the game. Coming down to their offensive side of the floor for the first time, Covenant threw the ball out of bounds and handed it back to Salem for their second chance to score just outside of 30 seconds into the game. For a slight moment, there was a feeling in the crowd that this was going to be another turnover-fest for the Lady Scots, but that couldn't have been further from the truth. After the butterflies of the opening minutes wore off, the Lady Scots got right back to where they were the night before: scoring almost at will and smothering the opposing offense.
Though the score had been tied 4 times in the first 5 minutes, a free throw from captain Hannah Craft at the 15:10 mark gave Covenant a 12-11 lead which they would not surrender for the remainder of the game. The last 15 minutes were highlighted by a 31-13 run by the Lady Scots who pushed the tightly contested game into one that was clearly lopsided with the scoreboard reading 43-24 in favor of Covenant.
The lead grew by stellar team defense and offensive patience resulting in good looks for several Lady Scots. Junior Margaret Cross led all scorers with 12 points off 4-5 shooting behind the 3 point line. Sophomore Jessie Blankenship stood tall on her own as she contributed 9 points, missing only one shot in the half as she was 2-3 from the floor and 5-5 from the charity stripe. The last major offensive contributor was junior Christine Core as she put up 7 points, 2 away from her season high in just one half.
The team stats were just as impressive as the lights out shooting resulted in 52% (13-25) shooting from the floor, 45% (5-11) from beyond the arc and 75% (12-16) from the free throw line. But what had been the more impressive was the rebounding; the Lady Scots dominated the boards as they grabbed 28 in the first half while Salem only pulled down 12. The great team defense has been there over and over for the Lady Scots, but it took a whole team effort to smother the GSAC's leading scorer Kelsey Rector. This whole effort did not take a possession off as she walked to the locker room with zero points in the first half.
The second half was more of the same as the offense seemed to slow down and make the right decision. The lead peaked at 29 points and as if on cue, Rector led her team on a run of their own as they outscored the Lady Scots 14-1 in a four and a half minute section of the second half and cranked up their defensive pressure. With 6:50 left in the game, the scoreboard read 65-49, still in favor of the Lady Scots.
With the added pressure meant that there would be free throws to make for the Lady Scots as Salem tried to get the ball back to continue their scoring. But these fouls would end up costing the Spirits the game as 4 different players fouled out, leaving only 4 out on the court for the last 2 minutes of the game. As the ball was dribbled out erasing the final seconds of the game the score sat at 73-53 giving the Lady Scots their second win as many nights.
The second half was not as pretty as the three halves prior to it this weekend, but the Lady Scots hit the shots they needed to preserve the win. Cross finished with 18 points as she hit 2 more 3's in the second half. Blankenship finished with another double-double, scoring 14 points and nabbing 12 rebounds. Core finished with 10 points: her new season high point total.
As a group, the Lady Scots grabbed 54 total rebounds, a mark they only bettered once this season. It only took a spark for the offense to catch fire, and it seems that this spark is what Covenant needed to put everything together, pairing the stifling defense now with an offense that continues to prove that it is working.
The Lady Scots finish the week at 2-1 and look forward to next week as they have another 3 games over a 6 day stretch. The first of these will be at home Tuesday night against The University of the South at 6:00pm.
