Freshman forward powers Lady Hawks to third conference win

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Huntingdon freshman Patricia Pickens wasn't expecting to have a breakout game against Spelman College on Wednesday.

When she came off the bench five minutes into the game, Pickens was just trying to help rally her team. By the end of the night, the 5-foot-7 forward had done both.

Pickens finished with a career-high 19 points and six steals and matched her career-best with seven rebounds to help Huntingdon knock off Spelman 74-58 at Roland Arena.

"Being a freshman, it feels really good to be able to have a game like this and help the team," Pickens said. "The difference in the game was that we played as a team. We were down early. But once we started pushing the ball and going inside, we were able to get the lead. I just feel like we wanted it more and we finished the game."

Huntingdon head coach Buzz Phillips had confidence in Pickens coming into the game. With 10 points in each of the past three games, Pickens was Huntingdon's second-leading scorer in the Lady Hawks' first three games in January.

But Phillips admits he wasn't anticipating the Anniston native's performance on Wednesday.

"She has no fear. She just goes in and does what we ask of her," Phillips said. "But you don't really expect someone to come off the bench and play 31 minutes like she did. With the night she was having (5-for-8 from the field and 9-for-9 from the free-throw line), we wanted to let her play."

The win pushes Huntingdon's winning streak to five games, the longest winning streak for the Lady Hawks since January 2009. It also gives Huntingdon (8-4) a 3-0 record in the Great South Athletic Conference.

"It feels good to be 3-0 in the conference," Pickens said. "I haven't been here before this season, but I've heard about how tough conference has been for us the past couple of years. We hope this is the start of something good for us."

Spelman jumped out to an early lead and led for most of the first half. Huntingdon took its first lead of the game near the 10-minute mark. Both teams swapped leads until Huntingdon made its move with a little more than two minutes before halftime.

During the final two minutes of the first half and the first four minutes of the second half, Huntingdon went on a 22-6 run to take control.

A Jodi Montalvo basket gave the Lady Hawks a 25-24 lead with 2:04 remaining in the first half. Huntingdon did not trail again.

After a Jessi Andrews layup and free throw and a Raven Prater 3-pointer, the Lady Hawks led by five at the half. Another Prater 3 and a LaTerial Williams 3 opened the second half. Prater scored 10 points during the run.

"Spelman played very well. They came to play," Phillips said. "When they took the lead early in the game, I think that woke us up a little. We regained our composure at halftime and I thought we played an excellent second half.

"LaTerial got in foul trouble, but she had another good game and I think Raven may have played her best game of the season. It was another all around good effort."

Williams followed Pickens with 14 points and three steals and Prater hit three 3-pointers and finished with 11 points and three steals. Tanjanik Munford pulled down six rebounds and scored eight points.

Shanda Kennedy led Spelman (0-8, 0-2) with 20 points and nine rebounds.

Huntingdon returns to Roland Arena on Saturday at 2 p.m. for a key GSAC battle with Maryville (6-5, 1-0).

"Maryville is Maryville and it's going to be a tough, physical game," Phillips said. "They're going to be sound and we're going to have to do a better job running our offense. We're both undefeated in the conference and this is an important game. We've got to be ready to go out and give our best effort."