Slow start costs Lady Hawks in loss to LaGrange

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The Huntingdon women's basketball team fell behind in the first half and couldn't recover Wednesday night against LaGrange.

LaGrange led by 13 at the half and knocked off Huntingdon 90-80 at Roland Arena. The loss snapped a three-game winning streak for the Lady Hawks (15-9, 10-5 Great South Athletic Conference).

"It seemed like we didn't show up to start the game," Huntingdon head coach Buzz Phillips said. "You look at their shooting percentage in the first half and you look at ours. It took us almost 10 minutes to score our first field goal.

"We were able to cut it to four points midway through the first half, but the final five minutes of the first half and the first five minutes of the second half really killed us."

LaGrange shot 42.9 percent from the field in the first half and 56.5 percent in the second half. The Lady Hawks were 19 percent from the field in the first half and shot 31.3 percent for the game.

Huntingdon fell behind by 12 points in the first eight minutes and trailed 20-10 before scoring its first field goal with 10:15 left in the half.

LaTerial Williams scored the Lady Hawks' first field goal and added two more in less than a minute to pull Huntingdon within four points, 20-16. Huntingdon kept it close until the final five minutes of the half.

LaGrange (17-7, 12-3 GSAC) outscored the Lady Hawks 16-7 in the final 4:16 of the half and led 46-33 at halftime. The Panthers pulled ahead to an 18-point lead in the first two minutes of the second half.

Huntingdon pulled within eight points seven times in the final 12 minutes, but that was as close as the Lady Hawks could get.

"We never quit and we kept battling, but we couldn't catch them," Phillips said. "We'd cut it to eight points and they'd hit a big shot and pull back ahead. It was just one of those nights. We've got to put it behind us and get ready for the next one."

Williams and Raven Prater each scored 18 points to lead Huntingdon. Williams also had eight rebounds and five steals. Morgan Crawford added 14 points and five steals and Patricia Pickens finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

Katie Covington led LaGrange with 20 points. Stefanie Schuck scored 12 points, Heather Miller added 11 points and Alex Wilson finished with 10 points.

Huntingdon closes out the regular season at home on Saturday. The Lady Hawks host Piedmont at 2 p.m.

"This will be Senior Day for us and our three seniors (Jessi Andrews, Whitney Toole and Williams)," Phillips said." All three of them have been great leaders. They've helped us accomplish a lot during their time here and we've still got more that we want to accomplish with them this season."