MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The William Carey Women's Basketball Team improved to 2-0 on the season with a 65-62 victory over Rust College on Saturday afternoon.
"I thought we managed both Stillman and Rust College's pressure defense which was relentless," said Head Coach Tracy English. "Both games were good early season tests for us and happy with the wins.
After falling down 6-2, Kolten Blakeney and Shaneal Corpuz put Carey ahead 7-6 with six minutes left in the first quarter. From there both teams went back and forth until a Rose Warren jumper with four minutes left jump started the WCU offense. Over the final minutes of the quarter the Lady Crusaders extended their lead to as many as eleven before taking a 23-15 lead into the second quarter.
The Carey offense continued to stay hot into the second quarter pushing their lead to fourteen on multiple occasions. But with less than three minutes left, the WCU offense went cold, and the Rust offense found their stride going on an 11-0 run to close the quarter down 37-34.
Rust came out of the break scoring the first four points to take a 38-37 lead, but the lead would be short lived, as Jenna Garriga broke an almost six-minute span without a basket for the Lady Crusaders to put them back in front 39-38. From there both teams traded shots with Rust holding the largest lead of the quarter at four points before taking a 51-50 lead into the final quarter of play.
The battle continued in the fourth with Rust maintaining the lead for over half the quarter but with four minutes to play a Madelyn Ladner layup put Carey ahead with Garriga following with a jumper in paint to make it 63-60. Rust would get back within one point but after Warren was fouled, she converted both free throws to push the Carey lead back to three with under twenty seconds remaining.
With time winding down the WCU defense clamped down, forcing the Rust three-point attempt to miss its mark with Corpuz being fouled on the rebound sending her to the free throw line to potentially seal the victory. However, she would miss both attempts giving Rust one last chance to tie the game with one second left on the clock. But once again the Lady Crusader defense stepped up not allowing Rust to get the shot off to seal the win.
Shaneal Corpuz led the offense with 15 points and ten rebounds. Rose Warren finished with 12 points while Leah Sutton and Kolten Blakeney each had ten points.
Carey is back in action Wednesday, November 6, as they head to Talladega, Ala. to take on Talladega College. Tip-off is slated for 5:00 pm.
Comentarios