November 21, 2006

Boxscore

LAURINBURG, N.C.—The St. Andrews Presbyterian College women’s basketball team held Carolinas-Virginia Athletics Conference power Barton College to 14-of-63 (22.2-percent) shooting en route to a 54-42 victory during the conference opener for both clubs in Harris Court on Tuesday evening.

The Lady Knights, who also out rebounded the visitors by a 46-40 margin, improved to 2-1 overall and 1-0 in the CVAC after winning in their home debut. The Lady Bulldogs, who received votes in the USA TODAY ESPN Division II Preseason Coaches Poll, maintain a 2-2 overall and 0-1 conference ledger.

“That win should really get us going and get us confidence that we can play with this those types of teams that have been there before,” said third year St. Andrews head coach David Johnson after defeating a 2006 NCAA Tournament qualifier and CVAC preseason picked second pick in Barton.

SAPC held the biggest lead of the first half at 21-14 after senior Marquita Prichard (Havelock, N.C.) capped a 6-0 run with a block, rebound, and lay-up in a 20 second span midway through the period. Barton held tough and out scored the Lady Knights 11-4 in the final six-plus minutes to tie the contest at 25-25 at halftime. Prichard led St. Andrews into the locker room with eight of her 12 points coming in the first frame.

After junior Erika Thompson (Kalamazoo, Mich.) drained a three-pointer to tie the game at 30-30, Prichard put the Lady Knights on top for good with a made jumper on the next possession with 16:33 left. St. Andrews out-scored Barton 29-17 in the final stanza to pull out the 12-point victory, which was the largest advantage of the night. SAPC held the Lady Bulldogs to a measly 5-of-32 (15.6%) shooting in the final 20 minutes.

“The key was taking away their post presence. We talked about our post pressure for the past couple of days and also having all five of our players crashing the boards for rebounds,” explained Johnson. “If you do not out rebound Barton, you will not beat them. Everything is predicated around them rebounding offensively.”

Thompson had a game-high 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting including 3-for-4 from behind the arc as St. Andrews went 23-for-54 (42.6%) from the field for the game. Thompson also provided six rebounds and three steals.

Prichard added six boards, two assists, and two steals to her 12 points. Junior Danielle Norman (Bronx, N.Y.) followed with 11 points and five rebounds. Senior Ashley Mitchell (Washington, D.C.) had team-highs of seven boards and five assists. Senior Diana Martinez (Woodbridge, Va.) totaled eight points and six rebounds while junior April Johnson (McColl, S.C.) raked up six points and five boards to go along with her game-high four blocks.

Senior Veronica Johnson (Hampton, Va.) led the Lady Bulldogs with 10 points while sophomore Blair Burke ( Raleigh, N.C.) bucketed nine. Sophomore Kendra Thomas (Virginia Beach, Va.) added six points to her game-high nine rebounds.

St. Andrews hosts non-conference Chowan College on Monday at 6:00 p.m. while Barton entertains CVAC foe Coker College on Wednesday, November 29 at 5:30 p.m.