BREVARD — The St. Andrews University women’s basketball team dropped their first non-conference game of the season on Thursday falling 74-62 to Brevard College in their first game after Christmas break.
A low-scoring first quarter saw the Lady Tornadoes lead just 11-9 before Brevard College got on a roll to outscore the Lady Knights 21-13 in the second quarter and lead 32-22 at the break.
The Lady Knights came out in the second half shooting much better scoring 19 points in the third to outscore Brevard 19-15. St. Andrews added 21 more in the fourth, but allowed Brevard to score 27 points — to outscore the Lady Knights 42-40 for the half.
St. Andrews finished the game shooting just 41.8 percent overall and just 25 percent from three-point range, but scored 40 points in the second half as compared to just 22 points in the first half as they shook the rust off. Brevard finished the game shooting 39 percent overall and 30 percent from three, but made five more three-pointers than the Lady Knights.
The Lady Knights defense forced 20 turnovers while gaining eight steals and pulling down 37 rebounds.
Sophomore shooting guard Samantha Ring was the only Lady Knight to finish in double-figures with 24 points — a career-high. Ring also had six rebounds, an assist, block, and a steal. It was the sophomore’s 10th double-digit game this season, as she leads the Lady Knights in scoring averaging 15.8 points per game.
Junior guard Kayla Clifton made her season debut scoring eight points with four rebounds and a team-best four assists. Freshman forward Aquera Johnson finished with seven points, a team-high eight rebounds and a team-high three steals. Fellow freshman forward Morgan Perkins added eight points, five rebounds, with two blocks and a steal.
Sophomore point guard Courtney Rowe also finished with a team-best tying four assists, along with two steals and five points while senior forward Ellen Dukes had six points and seven rebounds.
St. Andrews falls to 4-7 on the season with the loss while Brevard improves to 4-4.
The Lady Knights remain on the road to face another Randolph College (Va.) on Saturday, Dec. 30 at 2 p.m.
