LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN-- After a hot first half, the Covenant women's basketball team cooled off while visiting LaGrange started hitting its shots as the Panthers came from behind to edge the Scots 71-67.

Coming into the game, it looked like a mismatch on paper as LaGrange was sitting near the top of the USA South with an 5-1 record in conference play and 10-5 mark overall, while riding a four-game winning streak. However, Covenant (1-15, 1-7 USA South) went toe-to-toe with the Panthers, giving them all they could handle.

In the first half, Haley Soles led the Scots to a 39-26 halftime lead by scoring 16 points while going 5-of-6 from the 3-point line. At one point, she had almost as many points (16) as the entire LaGrange team (19). As a team, Covenant shot 51.7 percent from the field and 50 percent from 3-point range.

In the second half, however, the momentum slowly started to swing the way of the Panthers. The tide started to shift early on, as LaGrange went on a 17-5 run to cut the Scots' lead all the way to one at the 13:27 mark.

Covenant was able to push the lead back out to eight three more times, but on each occasion the Panthers were able to reel them back in, forging a tie with 3:17 to go on a layup by Morgan McDonald.

One possession later, Lagrange took its first lead of the night when Shaye Butler drained a 3-pointer from the top of the key for a 64-61 lead.

Two minutes later, the Scots were able to tie the game again on Aleigha Williams' layup with 1:06 left, but the Panthers converted four free throws down the stretch while holding Covenant scoreless the rest of the way.

LaGrange, after shooting just 36.7 percent from the floor and 1-of-6 from the 3-point line in the first half, bounced back in the second half to shoot 53.6 percent while hitting six 3s. Covenant shot 43.9 percent.

Soles finished with 19 points on 6-of-10 shooting, while Jessica Bell and Morgan Woodward each had 10. Liz Dougherty chipped in nine off the bench while Rachel Price ended up with six rebounds and three steals to go with four points.

Butler led LaGrange with 23 points on 8-of-11 shooting while hitting all three of her 3-point attempts. Kelsey Mitchell and Lauren Johnson both had 10 while adding four and five assists, respectively.

Covenant is back in action on Friday when they host USA South conference foe Mary Baldwin at 6 p.m.

Be sure to follow the Scots all season long on athletics.covenant.edu and on social media at Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for up-to-date scores, news and other information.