November 17, 2007

Boxscore

RALEIGH, N.C.—Senior guard Erika Thompson (Kalamazoo, Mich.) had team-highs of 14 points, seven rebounds, six assists, and two steals to lead visiting St. Andrews Presbyterian College, but host Saint Augustine’s College made a second-half rally to take the season-opener 66-54 on Saturday afternoon.

The Lady Falcons (1-1) used a 19-4 run midway through the second half to catapult into the lead for good. Erika Knox and Kelley Bural led St. Aug’s to the victory with 18 and 12 points, respectively.

St. Andrews (0-1) trailed by five points, 12-7, midway through the first half scoring on seven points in the first 10 minutes. However, the Lady Knights out scored the Falcons 24-12 in the final 10 minutes. SAPC broke a late tie with a Thompson 3-pointer and a freshman Franchaze Waters (Annapolis, Md.) free throw to take a 28-24 lead into halftime.

The Knights used a well-balanced offense in the opening 20 minutes of the season receiving points from all 10 players in that span. SAPC held the four-point advantage at the intermission by out rebounding St. Augustine’s 24-13 and shooting 40.7-percent but the Falcons stayed within reach because of 18 St. Andrews turnovers.

Hanging onto a slim one-point lead, senior Jackie Cromer (Greensboro, N.C.) and junior Desiree Jones (Tulsa, Okla.) hit back-to-back baskets to extend the margin to five, 35-30, for the Royal Blue and White with just over 15 minutes left.

St. Augustine’s responded by with its 19-4 rally over the next five and a half minutes to take a 49-39 lead. The Falcons scored 10 points on six SAPC turnovers and six more points on five offensive boards during the game-changing run. Senior Danielle Norman (Bronx, N.Y.) had all four on the Knights points during that stretch.

A pair of lay-ups by Norman and Thompson pulled St. Andrews to within five points but the Knights were held scoreless in the final 1:42. Forced to foul, the Falcons were able to pull out to the final 12-point victory by knocking down seven free throws in the last 77 seconds.

St. Andrews went cold from the field in the second half missing all nine attempts from behind the arc. SAPC was 3-for-16 (18.8%) from 3-point distance while hitting only going 37.3% from the floor for the game. The Knights controlled the boards, 44-33, but turned over the ball 33 times on 16 Falcon steals.

Norman finished with 10 points and seven rebounds. Senior April Johnson (McColl, S.C.) added nine points while Jones and freshman Lalita Middleton (North Charleston, S.C.) each bucketed five points. Jones crashed the glass for six boards while freshman Kristin Zipkin (Canton, Ga.) dished out five assists.

St. Andrews opens up Conference Carolinas play at Barton College in Wilson, N.C. on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m.