LAURINBURG — The Lady Knights hosted the Montreat Cavaliers Tuesday night at Harris Court for a women’s basketball Appalachian Athletic Conference matchup. The Cavaliers came in sitting at fourth place in the AAC and looked to secure a playoff position in the contest. Both sides battled in a back-and-forth match, as the Lady Knights attempted a late comeback, but ultimately fell short with a 55-54 heartbreaking loss.

After an opening layup from Montreat’s Mariya Williams, Makayla Salliey (Baltmore, Md.) opened up the scoring for the Lady Knights with a beautiful inside move for a layup. After a flurry of Cavaliers buckets, Samantha Tougher (Ontario, Canada), the premier sharpshooter for the Lady Knights, knocked down a 3-ball to keep the squad right on pace with Montreat.

Ashley Starks (Manchester, Tenn.) was able to knock down a jumper, and two free throws from Hailey Crozier (Des Moines, Iowa) kept the Lady Knights offense afloat during the first quarter. Salliey was able to end the quarter with a layup, however, Montreat would carry a 24-13 lead into the second quarter.

After being out-shot in the first quarter, the Lady Knights enjoyed a much more successful offensive quarter by shooting 5-of-10 from the field including two 3-pointers. Salliey and Starks scored the opening two buckets for the Lady Knights, before Starks caught absolute fire and hit back-to-back 3-pointers to make the score 30-25 in the Cavaliers’ favor.

A final Starks free throw would send the teams to the locker room for the halftime break with Montreat holding a slight edge at 34-26 in the contest.

The Lady Knights found it difficult to keep their offensive consistency from the second quarter and were only able to manage one basket in the quarter’s opening 4 1/2 minutes, In that time, Montreat was able to grow their lead to 40-29, before Starks was able to get the Lady Knights on the board with a jumper.

Three points in the final two minutes from Melissa Tougher (Ontario, Canada) gave the Lady Knights a small confidence boost heading into the fourth quarter, as the score sat at 45-34.

From a scoring standpoint, the Lady Knights were able to catch absolute fire and enjoy one of their best offensive stretches of the season in the fourth quarter. Salliey opened things with two quick layups, and back-to-back 3-balls from Samantha Tougher and Starks trimmed the Cavaliers lead down to 48-44 with 7:26 remaining in the ball game.

After the teams exchanged points in crucial moments of the quarter, Samantha Tougher was able to tie the game with a 3-ball at 52-52 with just 2:50 remaining in the contest. After three free throws from the Cavaliers, the Lady Knights were down by three points at 55-52 and only had one possession to take the final shot. Samantha Tougher’s heavily contested 3-pointer fell just short and a consolation basket from Caycee Scott (Augusta, Ga.) made the final score 55-54.

Next up for the Lady Knights will be senior day, as the they welcome the Johnson Royals of the AAC on Feb. 18. The contest is scheduled to tip-off at 12 p.m.

Knights take 8th at 2023 Coastal Georgia Winter Invite

The St. Andrews men’s golf team began their spring campaign with a two day tournament at the 2023 Coastal Georgia Winter Invite on Monday and Tuesday. Many NAIA affiliate programs and Appalachian Athletic Conference schools were in attendance such as Keiser, Southeastern, The Savannah College of Art and Design, Columbia International, and Brewton-Parker among others. The Knights received various incredible individual performances and shot a collective 907 through three rounds of play for a +43 combined score and an eighth place out of the 16 teams tournament placing.

Leading the way on the course in the tournament for the Knights was Noah Surth (Berlin, Germany), who shot a combined score of 217 over his three rounds of play, for a score of +1 above par and an overall placing of 11th out of the 87 golfers who recorded scores. Surth’s best score came in the second round, where he shot a course score of 68 for -4 scoring.

Following right behind was Matthew Lefebvre (Fontana, Calif.), who ended the circuit with an overall placing of 15th among the talented crowd of collegiate golfers. Lefebvre shot a combined 222 score through his three rounds of play for a combined +6 above par scoring. Lefebvre’s best day on the course came in the second round, as well, as he shot right on par for the course with a score of 72.

Not too far behind was Kole Washleski (Douglassville, Pa.), who went on to shoot a consistent 76, 75, 75 over his three rounds of play, good enough for a placement of 27th. Combined, Washleski shot for a total score of 226 and +10 above par.

Rounding out the top five placing for St. Andrews was Ezequiel Ruiz (Escobar, Argentina) and Remo Scholl (Hessen, Germany). Ruiz shot a 231 total score over three rounds for +15 above par, ruling 41st overall placement. Ruiz’s best day came in the second round, where he shot for par at 72. Scholl’s three rounds of work earned him a final score 234 and +18 above par for a 52nd overall placement.

Van Niekerk competes at AAC Men’s Swimming Championships

Willem Van Niekerk represented the Knights over the weekend at the Appalachian Athletic Conference Men’s and Women’s Swimming Championships in Kingsport, Tenn. Van Niekerk was the only St. Andrews swimmer in attendance and competed in the men’s 200m butterfly event.

In the event, Van Niekerk was able to record a time of 2:00.43 in the pool, good enough to earn him seventh place out of the eight swimmers in the competition and earn 12 points from his result.

Milligan University was able to come out on top as champions in the two-day event, claiming a combined 1,057 points and breaking multiple AAC records throughout the competition. Rounding out the top three finishing schools, was West Virginia Tech, who placed second and amassed a combined 511 points, and Columbia College, who finished in third place and accumulated 305 points over the span of the competition.