RALEIGH, NC – The William Peace women's basketball team opened the second half on an 8-0 run and pulled ahead by as many as six (36-30) after trailing Huntingdon at the break, 28-25. The Pacers were unable to recover from an ensuing 12-0 swing in favor of the Hawks though and went on to lose, 55-47.
"The effort was there, but we have to shoot it better, and we can't afford to miss layups," explained head coach Kelly Johnson. "We had some tough calls that got us out of our game, but you have to give [Huntingdon] credit. They just played through the adversity a little better than we did."
WPU (5-9, 2-6 USAS) recorded 15 steals and forced Huntingdon to cough it up 21 times, but the Pacers squandered virtually every opportunity at the other end scoring only four points off turnovers. The Hawks (8-8, 3-5 USAS) scored 12 points off WPU's 13 turnovers.
Huntingdon only shot 38% (22-of-58) from the field and 3-of-14 (21.4%) from beyond the arc, but the Pacers recent shooting struggles only got worse today. WPU finished the game shooting 13-of-66 (19.7%) from the field and a 6-of-27 (22.2%) from long-distance. The Pacers did shoot it well from the free-throw line going 15-of-18 (83.3%).
Krystal Williams, Ka'la Jordan, and Brittany Boykin scored nine points apiece for the Pacers. Alexis Armstrong had seven points and a career high 13 rebounds. Derrica Jones only had four points, but she did grab 12 boards for her eighth double-digit rebounding game of the year and remains the conference's leading rebounder.
Pat Pickens was impressive for Huntingdon as she has been all year. The USA South's second leading scorer and third leading rebounder registered a double-double of 21 points and 17 rebounds.
The William Peace women's basketball team will return to action this Wednesday as they travel to face rival Meredith College at 7:00 p.m.
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