Lady Hawks earn 21st win, advance to USA South quarterfinals

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The Huntingdon women's basketball team kept its season rolling with an 85-72 win over Covenant in the first round of the USA South Athletic Conference Tournament on Wednesday night.

This is the third straight season Huntingdon has reached the conference tournament and the second time the Lady Hawks have advanced to the quarterfinals.

Huntingdon, the No. 3 seed in the West Division, will play at Greensboro (19-6) in the quarterfinals. Greensboro is the No 2 seed in the East Division. Tipoff is set for 1 p.m. (Central) on Saturday.

Wednesday's win was the 21^st of the season for Huntingdon (21-4), breaking the program's NCAA-era record for wins in a season. Huntingdon will carry an 11-game winning streak into the quarterfinals.

Against Covenant (10-16), Huntingdon scored the first 12 points of the game, built a 14-point lead in the first quarter, an 18-point lead in the second quarter and led 42-33 at halftime.

Covenant pulled within seven points twice in the second half, but Huntingdon maintained control of the game. Leading 50-43 midway through the third quarter, the Lady Hawks closed the quarter with a 14-6 run to push the lead back to 15 points.

In the fourth quarter, Covenant cut the lead to 73-66 in the final three minutes before Huntingdon eased back to a double-digit lead to close out the game.

Shaonica Thomas led Huntingdon with 22 points, eight rebounds and three blocked shots. T.I. Duncan followed with 16 points and seven rebounds, Alex Lowery added 11 points, Mia Hudson had 10 points and five rebounds and Hannah Parks finished with eight points.

Records: Huntingdon (21-4); Covenant (10-16)                                                          

Coming Up: Huntingdon will play at Greensboro in the USA South quarterfinals on Saturday. Tipoff is set for 1 p.m. (Central).