Huntingdon women knock off Covenant for 10th win of the season

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Huntingdon sophomore Sekal Ousley and her teammates were determined not to have a letdown against Covenant College on Saturday.

Coming off a win against then-conference leader LaGrange on Wednesday, the Lady Hawks were on guard against complacency. Still, Huntingdon found itself in an eight-point hole in the second half.

The Lady Hawks shook off the deficit and pulled away late for a 72-63 win.

"I thought we played well today. We took some good shots in the first half, they just weren't falling," Huntingdon women's basketball coach Buzz Phillips said. "We went into the half down by three. In the first half, they scored 16 points off second and third-chance shots. I told the girls at halftime, if we let them have that many second-chance shots in the second half, we're going to get beat.

"The girls turned it up in the second half. We had a surge late and we came away with a good win."

With the win, Huntingdon improves to 10-6 overall and 5-2 in the Great South Athletic Conference. Ten wins is not the main goal for the Lady Hawks, but for a program that won nine games last season and five games the season before, it's another step in the right direction.

"We're at 10 wins for the season," Phillips said. "That's not something to make a big deal about, but it's something nice for our returning players who went through the past two seasons. This 10th win was a hard-fought one. We like how we've started the season and where we are right now, but there are a lot of games left. We want to keep working."

Ousley, a first-year player for Huntingdon, had her best night yet, scoring 16 points and pulling down six rebounds. She was one of three Lady Hawks to score in double figures. Two others finished with nine points.

"This was another good win for us," Ousley said. "We started a little slow, but we got things going and did the things we needed to do to win. When we do the things we're coached to do, we get good results."

Behind Ousley, Patricia Pickens added 14 points and six rebounds, Morgan Crawford had 13 points, eight assists and four steals, LaTerial Williams had nine points and a team-high nine rebounds and Raven Prater finished with nine points and five rebounds.

"The best thing about this team is that it's not one player doing everything," Ousley said. When we have success, everyone plays a role. It's not just one player scoring 20 or 30 points, the points come from throughout the team."

The Lady Hawks sealed the win with a run in the final five minutes. Leading 57-56 with 4:59 to play, an Ousley layup started an 11-3 run. Huntingdon outscored Covenant 15-7 in the final five minutes.

Huntingdon returns to action on Jan. 28 at 22nd ranked Piedmont (13-3, 5-2 GSAC).