LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN, GA – The William Peace women's basketball team trailed the entire game, but the Pacers erased an 11 point deficit as Alexis Armstrong drained the game-winner with 15 seconds remaining for a crucial conference win on the road against Covenant College, 60-59.
It was the Haley Soles show for the first 22 minutes of the game, as she led Covenant (1-14, 1-6 USAS) to an eight point (31-23) lead at halftime after scoring 17. Soles came out on the other side of the break and hit her sixth triple of the game, extending the Scot's lead to 11 (34-23) at the 17:52 mark, but the Pacers (5-6, 2-3 USAS) answered with a 7-0 run and cut it to four (34-30) with 16:20 left.
"We played better defense on Soles in the second half. We started out in a zone but she shot us out of it," explained head coach Kelly Johnson. "They went zone against us and I thought we ran our offense pretty well…we had better ball movement and took better shots in the second half."
After playing to a draw for the next nine minutes and some change, Soles hit her final basket of the game to give the Scots a six point (46-40) lead at the 7:06 mark. A three minute scoring drought ensued for both sides until DeJah Cheatham hit a three-pointer with 4:11 to play, and then Derrica Jones capped off a 5-0 spurt with a pair of free throws at the 3:02 mark to make it a 46-45 game.
WPU sent Covenant to the line after a pair of empty possession for both teams, and Morgan Woodward made it a two point game (47-45) with 1:29 remaining. Cheathem responded with the biggest shot of her young career, a three-pointer that gave the Pacers their first lead of the game, but a questionable foul call sent Woodward back to the line the Scot's next time down.
Covenant only shot 37% from the charity stripe going 10-of-27, but Woodward made two when they mattered most, putting the Scots back on top, 49-48. Armstrong made a corner jumper with 15 seconds left though, and Soles' final attempt came up short.
"This is a tough road trip, and it was a big win for us today," Johnson said. "[Covenant] came in full of energy and confidence after a win last night, but we kept chipping away and I'm proud of our girls for playing through the adversity."
Three Pacers scored in double-figures led by Brittany Boykin, who had 14 points, two assists, two steals, and a rebound. Cheatham matched her career high with 11 points along with three rebounds, an assist, and a steal. Krystal Williams registered 10 points, five rebounds and three steals. Jones only scored three points but did grab a game high 13 rebounds.
The WPU women's basketball team returns to the Hermann Athletic Center this Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. where they'll square off against Methodist University.
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