Reinhardt pulls away from Lady Knights

LAURINBURG — The St. Andrews University women’s basketball team dropped its first game following the Christmas break 70-51 to Reinhardt University (Ga.).

St. Andrews got off to a good start leading by two 15-13 after a low-scoring first quarter. Reinhardt outscored the Lady Knights by eight in the second quarter 23-15 as they found their offense to take a 36-30 lead into halftime.

The Lady Eagles came out in the third quarter outscoring the Lady Knights 26-8 to take a 62-38 lead into the final period. St. Andrews won the scoring battle in the final quarter, out shooting Reinhardt 13-8, but it was too late to catch up with the Lady Eagles.

Reinhardt finished shooting just 32 percent in the half and 36 percent for the game while St. Andrews was 35 percent for the game but just 14 percent from three.

Sophomore shooting guard Samantha Ring was one of Lady Knights to finish in double-figure scoring as she had 13 points with two assists and a steal. It was Ring’s eleventh game this season scoring in double-digits as she leads the team with 14.4 points per game — eighth in the AAC.

Freshman forward Morgan Perkins added 11 points on 5-of-11 shooting with five rebounds, two steals, and a team/season-best three blocks. Perkins now ranks third in the conference with 14 total blocks and is averaging 1.1 blocks per game.

Freshman forward Aquera Johnson finished with nine points, four rebounds and an assist led the Lady Knights with a team-high five steals. Johnson leads the team averaging 2.5 steals per game. Fellow freshman Kylie Winchell tallied six points with three rebounds and a steal. Junior guard Kayla Clifton added nine points with three rebounds. Sophomore guard Courtney Rowe finished with team bests in assists with four and rebounds with seven while adding three steals and two points.

St. Andrews falls to 5-8 with the loss and 3-7 in the conference while Reinhardt improves to 13-5 and a conference-best 9-2 in the AAC.

The Lady Knights were on the roadMonday to face AAC foe Allen University (S.C.).

Knights fall short in high-scoring battle

LAURINBURG — The St. Andrews University men’s basketball team dropped a hard-fought high-scoring game with conference foe Reinhardt University (Ga.) on Saturday falling 104-99 in their first home game of 2018.

The Knights trailed late 96-95, but that would be as close as they would come down the stretch as RU closed it out with a late 8-4 run for their five-News Photopoint win.

Both teams got out to hot shooting starts as Reinhardt made their first four three-pointers and had 20 points on the board in the first 4 minutes of play. However, they could not shake the Knights as SAU stuck right with them shooting an impressive 61 percent in the first half while RU shot 41 percent but made 9 first half three-pointers. The teams were tied at the break at 51.

St. Andrews then extended their lead to seven early in the second half at 61-54 on senior guard Ben Twigger’s three-pointer before RU went on a run of its own to take a 4 point edge at 70-66.

RU outscored the Knights just 53-48 in the second half as the lead changed 13 times while the teams were tied 15 times during the game. SAU shot 62 percent in the second half but only managed to shoot 28 percent from three while RU made seven more threes than the Knights and 6 more free throws making the difference.

SAU put four players in double-figure scoring led by senior guard Carlos Heath’s career high of 28 points on 10 of 12 shooting in just his third game action this year. Fellow guard, junior Christian Lathan then added his season-high tying 25 points with 3 rebounds and 2 assists.

Junior guard Andrew Rodriguez scored six points with seven rebounds and three steals and a block. Twigger added 11 points on 3-of-8 shooting from long range as he played all 40 minutes providing the dangerous scoring threat throughout while also adding two rebounds and two assists.

Scotland High School graduate, junior forward, Jeremias Easterling added his third double-double of the season with 17 points on 7-of-8 shooting and 12 rebounds with two assists and a steal.

St. Andrews falls to 1-8 overall and 1-7 in the AAC with the loss while Reinhardt improves to 11-6 overall and 6-3 in the AAC.

The Knights made the quick trip to Columbia, S.C. on Monday to face AAC foe Allen University.

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By Troy Baranik

SAU Sports Information Director