LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN -- Sandwiched between two road trips to Mississippi, the Lady Scots were back in action at home to take on the visiting Panthers of Spelman College Thursday night. When these two teams met last week, Spelman had the upper hand as they handed the Lady Scots a 31 point loss on the road. But there seemed to be a difference in the air on Thursday as Covenant looked to avenge the large loss. It was a defensive struggle early as both teams struggled to get anything going offensively, but the Lady Scots put on a run to end the first half and went to the locker room with a 12 point halftime lead. This time, the halftime lead would convert to a win. Crucial free throws down the stretch helped the Lady Scots to a 51-45 victory. Barnes Physical Education Center has been kind to the Lady Scots who have now won 4 straight games in front of their home crowd.
From the very beginning, it seemed that this would not be the night for the Lady Scots as they did win the opening tip, but missed the ensuing lay-up. It took 5 possessions to finally get on the scoreboard with junior Christine Core's three-pointer. Other than that and a few other made baskets, neither team could find a way to score. At the 9:46 mark, it was only 9-6 in favor of the Lady Scots who were having turnover trouble, leading to many possessions without a shot. In the last 6 minutes, the Lady Scots finally had some offense to speak of and went on a 10-2 run to end the first half, giving them a 25-13 lead heading into the locker rooms.
After not scoring against Millsaps, freshman Jessie Blankenship seemed to be back on track as she had 8 points on 4-6 shooting. Junior Christine Core led all scorers with 9 points and led all players with 3 made threes. As a team, the Lady Scots shot 10-22 (45.5%) from the floor and 4-10 (40%) from behind the arc. There were some concerns, though, as the Panthers were back to their offensive rebounding ways. At the halftime intermission, Spelman had already grabbed 11 offensive boards and had forced 14 turnovers.
The second half began with the Covenant lead growing from 12 points all the way up to 17 points before the Panthers finally went on a run of their own. In 3 minutes and 40 seconds, Spelman cut the lead to 9 as Jessica Reagans hit a jumper with 13:12 remaining. Unlike other times in the season, this momentum swing was not enough to sway the Lady Scots from another home win. Timely free throw shooting and stellar team defense were the winning forces Thursday night. And though the Panthers hit several threes down the stretch to narrow the deficit, in the end, it was not enough.
Blankenship finished her eighth double-double of the season, scoring 15 points off 6-11 shooting from the floor in addition to 3 free throws and 10 rebounds. Core finished with her new season high of 12 points: 3 threes and 3 free throws. Junior Margaret Cross hit 3 threes of her own to finish with 9 points. The team defense seemed to come back to form as the Lady Scots restricted the Panthers to 16% shooting in the first half and 28% for the game.
The Lady Scots will be traveling to Holly Springs, Mississippi to take on Rust College Saturday afternoon. After that, they will return home to honor Emily Dupree on senior night, Tuesday, February 15.
