Lady Hawks knock off LaGrange for fourth straight win

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The Huntingdon women's basketball team held off a late push by LaGrange and knocked off the Panthers 61-59 on Wednesday.

The win evened the series record at 1-1 this season. LaGrange beat the Lady Hawks 78-49 on Jan. 28

"We thought we had a better team than what we showed the last time we played them. I think we showed that tonight," Huntingdon head coach Buzz Phillips said. "We knew this game wasn't going to be over until the last second. Even when we had a 12-point lead, I knew LaGrange was capable of making a run and they did. But our girls stuck with it and made the plays we had to have down the stretch."

With the win, Huntingdon (12-9) improved to 6-6 in the USA South Athletic Conference. With four conference games remaining (Piedmont, Covenant and Maryville twice), the Lady Hawks are in fourth place in the South Division.

Maryville (19-2), the 20th-ranked team in Division III, leads the South Division with an 11-1 conference record. LaGrange (15-7) is second in the Division with a 10-3 conference record and Piedmont (16-5) is third with a 9-4 conference record. The top three teams in the South Division will advance to the conference tournament.

The Lady Hawks built a 12-point lead midway through the second half against LaGrange. The Panthers answered with a 17-3 run and briefly took the lead, 55-53, with 3:17 to play.

Trailing by two, senior Pat Pickens tied the game with a layup and freshman Juliette Harp gave Huntingdon a 57-55 lead. LaGrange tied the game 57-57 with 2:03 to play before Pickens hit two free throws and sophomore Jello Weatherspoon hit a layup to make it 61-57 with 56 seconds remaining.

LaGrange cut it to two points with 27 seconds left but Huntingdon was able finish off the game. Huntingdon missed a field goal and a free throw in the final seconds but was able to keep LaGrange from getting off a last-second shot.

Pickens led Huntingdon with her 10th double-double of the season. She finished with 21 points and 12 rebounds and also had four steals. Pickens, the Lady Hawks' second-leading scorer during the NCAA era, now has 1,392 career points.

Harp finished with 11 points and two blocked shots and Mackenzie Garmany hit three 3-pointers and finished with 10 points. Weatherspoon added nine points and three assists and Tan Munford pulled down seven rebounds.

Huntingdon travels to Maryville on Saturday for a 3 p.m. game.