Sharpshooting freshman leads Lady Hawks to third straight win

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Huntingdon freshman Chelsea Graham has been learning the system and gaining the confidence of her teammates this season.

An accurate shooter from the perimeter, Graham's 3-point prowess has been on display since Game 1. Ten games into the season, Graham has become an important part of the Huntingdon offense.

The 5-foot-4 guard hit five 3s Thursday night to help Huntingdon knock off Pensacola Christian 65-44.

"She's been good for us," Huntingdon senior LaTerial Williams said. "She has confidence. When you have confidence, you can make things happen. We know she can shoot the 3 and we're trying to get the ball to her more often so she can take more shots."

Graham was 5-for-9 from 3-point range on Thursday and finished with a game-high 15 points. During the past two games, the freshman from Clay-Chalkville has hit 10-of-20 3-pointers and scored 32 points.

"Chelsea had another good game and really shot the ball well," Huntingdon head coach Buzz Phillips said. "She is a freshman, but she has no fear out there. She's not afraid to put the ball up and we're not afraid to give her the ball."

Graham said being an outside shooter is a role she enjoys. She said the main thing is being able to help the team.

"It's not about making plays for yourself, we're all out there trying to make plays to help the team win," Graham said. "I think we're playing a lot better and we're having fun playing together. We have a lot of talent on this team, we just need to keep believing in each other and play together."

Phillips was pleased with the way the Lady Hawks approached Thursday's game with the Eagles (1-12). It was the final non-conference game of the season for Huntingdon. The Lady Hawks are now gearing up for a 15-game stretch in the Great South Athletic Conference.

"I thought we came out and played a lot better than we did Wednesday night. We came out with energy and intensity," Phillips said. "It was good to be able to play a lot of players again. We played 20 on Wednesday and 17 tonight.

"But it's like I told the girls after the game, it's only going to get tougher from here on. We have 15 straight conference games ahead of us. Each game is going to be tough, so we have to keep working and keep playing hard."

The Lady Hawks (6-4, 1-0 in the GSAC) host Salem College (1-6, 0-1 GSAC) on Saturday at 2 p.m.

"It's going to be important for us to come out ready to play and try to get our second conference win," said Williams, who finished with eight points, four assists, four steals and a team-high six rebounds. "We want to make sure we get off to a good start in conference play."

Patricia Pickens added 10 points for Huntingdon, Tanjanik Munford recorded four steals and Jessi Andrews and Katie Martin each dished out four assists.