Londaisha Smith (1) and AJ Price (15) defend a Union Commonwealth fast break during the game between St. Andrews and the Bulldogs on Wednesday night in Laurinburg.
Andrew Smolar | The Laurinburg Exchange
Alexandria Barrino (23) attempts a three-pointer during the first quarter of the Knights’ matchup with the Bulldogs.
Andrew Smolar | The Laurinburg Exchange
Jaylin McDuffie (12) attempts a three-point shot in the first half of the Knights’ game against Union Commonwealth on Wednesday night. McDuffie led the Knights in scoring and went 4-8 from downtown in the game.
Andrew Smolar | The Laurinburg Exchange
Ma’Nas Drummond (1) dribbles the ball up the court.
Andrew Smolar | The Laurinburg Exchange
LAURINBURG —The St. Andrews Knights women’s basketball team picked up their first home victory of the season on Wednesday night at Harris Court, taking down conference rival Union Commonwealth by a score of 78-77 in a game that required overtime. St. Andrews improves to 2-5 overall and 1-2 in conference games with the victory while the Bulldogs fall to 2-3 (1-1 against AAC opponents) on the season with the loss.
It was a slow start for St. Andrews as they were outscored 22-12 in the first quarter but rebounded in the middle two periods with a combined 40 points in the second and third quarters compared to 27 for Union Commonwealth. The Knights got a key defensive stop at the end of the fourth quarter when the Bulldogs had a chance to win it and again at the end of overtime when Union Commonwealth had one more chance down by one. AJ Price had the game winning three-pointer for St. Andrews with three seconds left.
Ashley Starks was the unquestioned star of the night for the Knights, leading the team in points with 28, assists with seven, steals with four and was tied for the team lead in rebounds with five. It was a balanced scoring night for St. Andrews with four starters contributing at least 10 points as Price had 15, Londaisha Smith had 14 and Alexandria Barrino added 10 in the nail-biting victory.
Many of the team statistics were either nearly even or actually even, such as field goal percentage (42.3% for the Bulldogs and 42.1% for St. Andrews), rebounds (36 for each team), assists (18 for St. Andrews and 15 for Union Commonwealth) and second chance points (12-8 in favor of St. Andrews). However, the Knights did obtain an advantage in the turnover department, with the Bulldogs committing 32 turnovers to the Knights’ 25 while the points off turnovers were also in the Knights’ favor 33-21.
St. Andrews will now have a few days off before staying at home on Saturday for another conference matchup against Pikeville. Tipoff is scheduled for noon from Harris Court.
Men remain winless with loss to Union Commonwealth
The Knights also faced Union Commonwealth at home on Wednesday night but did not have the same result as the women, falling to their conference rivals by a score of 82-71. St. Andrews falls to 0-5 (0-3 against conference opponents) on the season with the loss while the Bulldogs improve to 4-1 (2-0 in conference games) with the victory.
The Knights played better in the second half as evidenced by outscoring the Bulldogs 38-36 in the final 20 minutes, but a 46-33 halftime deficit ultimately proved to be too much to overcome. Despite the relatively lopsided final score, many statistics were pretty close, such as rebounds (36 for the Knights to 35 for the Bulldogs), assists (15 for Union Commonwealth to 13 for the Knights) and second chance points (8-6 in favor of Union Commonwealth). St. Andrews did have a big advantage in bench points (30-11) but shot just 37.7% from the field compared to 48.3% for the Bulldogs.
Jaylin McDuffie led the Knights in scoring with 17 points while shooting 4-8 from three-point range and also nabbed six rebounds. Jordan Taylor was a beast for St. Andrews on the glass and on the defensive end with 15 rebounds and four blocks, both team highs.
St. Andrews will look to rebound on Saturday afternoon when they welcome another conference opponent to Laurinburg in Pikeville. Tipoff is scheduled for 2:00 p.m.