
Jamicia Davis (20) looks to drive to the basket while being defended by Magdalena Mihaljevic (23). Davis led the Knights in assists on Wednesday with five.
Andrew Smolar | The Laurinburg Exchange
LAURINBURG —The St. Andrews Knights women’s basketball team dropped a 68-60 contest against the Columbia International University (CIU) Rams on Wednesday night at Harris Court. St. Andrews falls to 9-13 (5-10 in conference games) on the season with their third consecutive loss while the Rams pick up their first victory of the season to improve to 1-16 (1-13 against AAC opponents).
CIU started the game off fast, scoring the first three points of the contest and nine of the first 11 in over the first 3:22 of action. The Knights then responded with 14 unanswered points that put them up 16-9 with 2:19 remaining in the period. The last points of the opening 10 minutes was a Londaisha Smith layup with 46 seconds left as St. Andrews led 18-13 after one quarter.
Smith would also score five points within the first 53 seconds of the second quarter to extend the Knights’ lead up to 10 (23-13). The period was a successful one for St. Andrews that saw them lead by as many as 14 (30-16 with 7:10 until halftime) and head into the break up 39-30. The final points of the first half came on a three-pointer from Mariah Leinbach with 23 seconds left.
Leinbach would also get the scoring started in the second half with a layup 49 seconds in. That score would be the start of an 8-0 CIU run within the first 2:48 to suddenly cut the Knights’ lead down to one (39-38). Smith would knock down a three-pointer to give the Knights their first points of the second half at the 3:10 mark, though the Rams managed to take a 45-44 lead with 1:17 left until the fourth. St. Andrews was outscored by CIU 15-12 in the third, though they ended the quarter on a 7-0 run to remain ahead 51-45 entering the final frame.
The last 10 minutes is where the problems really started for the Knights as the Rams outscored them 23-9 in the fourth quarter. The game was tied at 53 with 6:46 left in regulation before CIU went on a 9-0 surge to give them their biggest lead of the contest with 2:58 left. St. Andrews managed to go on a 5-0 run of their own to cut the lead down to four (62-58) with 93 seconds left in the game but didn’t have enough time to fully erase the gap as the Rams made some clutch free throws down the stretch to close out the win.
Smith was the only Knight to score in double digits as she had 24 points on a very efficient 9-14 shooting effort from the floor while also adding a team high seven steals, five rebounds and three assists. Katie Moore grabbed a team high six rebounds with Jamicia Davis leading the team in assists with five.
St. Andrews held a statistical advantage in a few key areas. Those include free throw percentage (81.8%-80%), rebounds (27-22), second chance points (7-4), points in the paint (30-20) and fastbreak points (19-0).
The Knights will be back in action on Saturday afternoon with a road matchup against Tennessee Wesleyan. Tipoff is scheduled for noon.
Boys basketball falls to CIU
The Knights were defeated by the visiting Rams 76-62 on Wednesday night at Harris Court. St. Andrews falls to 3-14 (2-12 in conference games) on the season with the loss while CIU improves to 15-3 (10-3 against conference opponents) with the victory.
Kwashek Breeden knocked down a three-pointer while Alik Lewis made a layup to quickly give St. Andrews an early 5-0 advantage. However, that lead wouldn’t last forever as the Rams would go on a 9-0 run in 3:49 of game time that put them in front 12-7. The Knights would later go on a 6-0 surge to put them in the lead (25-23) with four minutes left until halftime, though CIU answered back with a 10-3 run that lasted until the break as the Rams went into the locker room up by five (33-28).
Things didn’t get any easier for St. Andrews in the second half as CIU would outscore them 43-34 over the final 20 minutes. Mateu Escamilla would get the Knights on the board first with a jump shot 80 seconds into the half, though the three-point deficit they faced would be the closest they would be to even. The Rams quickly responded with six unanswered points and eventually found themselves up by 11 (45-34) with 15:02 left in the game.
To the Knights’ credit, they did not go away easily, managing to trim the margin down to the aforementioned three points (57-54) with 7:11 left in the contest. However, the Rams made more plays down the stretch as evidenced by them responding with a 13-2 runover the next 4:24 of game time that essentially put the game out of reach and allowed them to coast to victory.
Escamilla paced the Knights in scoring with 16 points, grabbed six rebounds, dished out one assist and had two steals. Ma’Nas Drummond led the team in both rebounds and assists with eight and four respectively.
St. Andrews did better than the Rams in the turnover department. The Knights committed just seven turnovers in the game compared to CIU’s 14 and scored 16 points off turnovers compared to nine for the Rams.
The Knights will be back in action on Saturday afternoon with a road matchup against Tennessee Wesleyan. Tipoff is scheduled for 2 p.m.