Hickory, N.C. - The Lenoir-Rhyne Women's Basketball team used a big third quarter to run away from Queens 77-61 in their home finale. LR outscored the Royals 25-8 in the third quarter while
Blaikley Crooks (18) and
Alyssa Wagner (16) set career-high in points on the evening. The Bears will head into their season finale in a tie for 8th place in their push to make next week's SAC Conference tournament.
GAME INFORMATION:
Final: Lenoir-Rhyne 77, Queens 61
Records: Lenoir-Rhyne (11-14, 10-13 SAC) , Queens (6-18, 5-18 SAC)
Location: Hickory, N.C. | Shuford Gym
STATS AND INFO:
- Bears swept the series from Queens this year and won their fifth straight against the Royals.
- With Tusculum losing to UVA-Wise and the Bears win tonight, LR is now tied for 8th in the SAC with the Pioneers with one game to go.
- Bears will travel on Saturday to Newberry, who sits one game ahead of the Bears in 6th place tied with UVA-Wise.
- Bears finished the season 7-7 at home and now have finished .500 or above at home for the 5th straight season.
FIRST HALF:
- Both teams started out slow shooting wise. Bears shot 35.7% in the first quarter while the Royals shot 31.6% as the teams went to the second quarter tied at 15.
- Crooks three-pointer with 1:34 left in the second quarter gave the Bears their biggest lead of the first half at 32-27 but the Royals scored the last four of the half including a Kennedy Fuller layup at the buzzer to cut the Bears lead to one.
- Wagner leads the Bears with 10 points at the half.
- Crooks and Malloy Sherrill had five rebounds in the first half.
SECOND HALF:
- After the Royals took a 33-32 lead, the Bears went on a 13-0 run to open a 12 point lead. Brandi Hudson scored seven of the teams 13 points during the run.
- Back to Back threes from Hanna McClung and a layup from Emily Harman stretched the Bears lead to 57-37 heading into the fourth.
- After shooting 22.2% in the third quarter, the Royals went 5-5 from the floor to start the fourth quarter to cut the Bears lead to nine points with 7:03 to go but that would be the closest they would get.
- Wagner's fourth three-pointer of the game gave the Bears a 14 point lead with 4:30 left then Crooks scored five straight points to put the game away as the Bears stretched the lead back to 19 with 2:31 left.
ABOUT THE BEARS:
- Wagner had 16 points on the night on 5-9 shooting including 4-5 from long range.
- Harman had 17 points and added 6 rebounds and 6 assists.
- Crooks had a game-high 18 points on 6-9 shooting including a pair of three-pointers.
- Hudson scored 10 of her 12 points in the second half to extend her streak to 19 games with at least 10 points.
NOTABLE ROYALS:
- Kalaya Hall led the Royals with 17 points but shot 5-19 from the floor.
- Taylor Stevens joined Hall in double digits with 10 points.
- Finley Lefevers had six rebounds but missed all five of her shots from the floor.
UP NEXT: Bears will travel to Newberry for the regular-season finale on Saturday. Tip-Off will be at 2:00 P.M.