DAYTON, TN —The St. Andrews Knights women’s basketball team lost to conference rival Bryan College on Saturday afternoon in a 81-57 final from Summers Gymnasium. St. Andrews falls to 5-9 (2-6 against AAC teams) on the season with the defeat while the Lions improve to 5-7 (4-5 in conference games) with the lopsided victory.

In a game Bryan controlled from the start, the Knights only won one of the four quarters in the game. The Lions outscored St. Andrews in the first quarter 21-6, the second frame 28-17 and the third period 21-14 before the Knights outscored Bryan 20-11 over the final 10 minutes of action.

St. Andrews scored the first four points of the game over the first 1:40 but then saw the Lions go on a 14-0 run and never trail again. Bryan led by as many as 36 points during the contest.

Londaisha Smith paced the team in points with 13 and rebounds with nine while also adding two steals and an assist in the loss. AJ Price led the Knights in assists with five while adding 11 points, seven rebounds and a steal.

Despite the setback, St. Andrews had a few areas they held a statistical advantage. They were better than the Lions from the free throw line (78.6%-60%), grabbed more rebounds (37-30) and scored more second chance points (10-7). Bryan had the edge in field goal percentage (48.3%-36.7%), three-point percentage (32%-18.2%), assists (19-11), turnovers committed (10-21), points off turnovers (26-7), points in the paint (38-30) and bench points (42-17).

The Knights will hit the road again on Tuesday night when they face another conference rival in the CIU Rams. Tipoff is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.

Men’s basketball loses to Bryan

The Knights met a similar fate to that of the women’s team, dropping a 85-71 road contest at the hands of their conference rivals. St. Andrews falls to 1-9 (0-7 against conference opponents) with the loss while the Lions improve to 9-4 (7-1 against AAC teams) with the win.

A made jump shot by Mateu Escamilla 18 seconds into the game gave the Knights a 2-0 lead but Bryan then scored 15 points in a row over the next six minutes of action and never trailed again. They won the first half 47-31 while the Knights scored 40 points in the second half to 38 for the Lions. Bryan led by as many as 23 points during the game.

Escamilla paced St. Andrews in scoring with 25 points on a 9-18 shooting effort from the floor and also led the team in rebounds with 10. Ma’Nas Drummond and Caleb Brown dished out three assists apiece to share the team lead in that area.

The Knights had a few areas of advantage in the game, including turnovers committed (17-19), second chance points (10-2) and bench points (21-18). Bryan held the edge in most other areas, including field goal percentage (51.9%-38.3%), three-point percentage (35%-28.1%), free throw percentage (81.5%-80%), rebounds (32-25), assists (22-10), points off turnovers (27-16) and points in the paint (30-20).

The Knights will hit the road again on Tuesday night when they face another conference rival in the CIU Rams. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

Wrestling teams head to Huntingdon

The Knights competed at the Garrett Coliseum in Montgomery, Alabama on Saturday. The men finished in 11th place out of 18 teams with 31.5 points scored at the Hawk Classic Open while the women also finished in 11th (out of 16 teams) at the Red Lady Open by scoring 2.5 points.

The men won three matches during the competition, two from fall and one by technical fall. David Coptsias (141) defeated Clint Gilbert of Andrew College in 4:04 while Caleb Haynes (125) took down Andravious Brihm of Andrew College in 3:54 for the two wins via fall. Coptsias also beat Thomas Gammill of Huntingdon by a score of 15-0 in 2:30 for the win by technical fall.

For the women, their one win of the day came from Teresa Dawn (145). She defeated Natalie Giocondo of Emory & Henry by a score of 12-0 in 1:31 for a victory via technical fall.

The men will next head to the Virginia Duals on Friday and Saturday with the competition beginning at 9 a.m. on Friday. The women meanwhile will head south of the border to compete in the Women’s Yellow Jacket Open on Saturday.