Lady Hawks close out Coaches vs. Cancer with win over Alma

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Junior Raven Prater scored six of Huntingdon's final eight points to help the Lady Hawks to a 65-58 win over Alma on Sunday in the final game of the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic.

Leading by a point with a little more than four minutes to play, Prater's six points sparked an 8-2 run to close the game.

"Alma is a physical team and they took away some of the things we wanted to do," Huntingdon women's basketball coach Buzz Phillips said. "We played hard the whole game and we turned it up at the right time. Raven played a big role and came through with some key points down the stretch. With the way we struggled at the free-throw line today, the free throws she made were much needed."

Prater finished the game with 15 points, five rebounds, five assists and five steals.

Her 6-for-8 performance at the free-throw line represented half of the Lady Hawks' free throws for the game. Huntingdon finished 12-for-29 from the free-throw line.

"That is unacceptable," Phillips said. "We were fortunate to be able to win today. You don't win many close games when you miss that many free throws. We're going to have to do a better job with our free throws."

Both teams battled evenly in the first half before Huntingdon built a 12-point lead early in the second half. Alma (3-8) rallied and tied the game 47-47 with a little more than 10 minutes to play.

Huntingdon quickly regained the lead on an Alyson Burke 3-pointer, but couldn't put the game away until the late run.

Morgan Crawford scored a team-high 17 points for Huntingdon (5-6). Burke and Tristiana Mays each had nine points and Tanjanik Munford finished with 10 rebounds and eight points. Jodie Thomas added eight rebounds.

The Lady Hawks travel to Emory (9-1) on Monday for a 1 p.m. game.