St. Andrews’ Hailey Crozier (grey jersey) dribbles the ball as Morris’ Raijhane McCray (10) defends during a Nov. 1 game at Harris Court in Laurinburg.
File photo
LAURINBURG — Just two games into the 2023-24 campaign, the St. Andrews Knights women’s basketball team is already one win away from matching their total from a year ago.
That’s because the Lady Knights came out on top against the Columbia International Rams in their first Appalachian Athletic Conference game Wednesday night, prevailing 77-65.
The victory gets the Lady Knights to 2-0 for the first time since the 2016-17 season.
After center Aubrielle Harris put CIU (1-2, 0-1 AAC) on the board first with a layup, St. Andrews scored the following six points from guards Ashley Starks and A.J. Price and forward Madison Larrimore, all on layups. From there, the Rams used an 18-4 scoring run to close out the first quarter and lead 20-10.
With 5:07 left in the second quarter, the Lady Knights tied the game at 22-22 after forward Samantha Tougher banked in a shot. The teams tied three more times at 25-25, 27-27, and 29-29, but a jumper from guard Alayna Watkins and a free throw made by guard Daja Taylor gave CIU a 32-29 lead at the half.
Ten seconds into the third quarter, Tougher knocked down a 3-pointer to tie the game for St. Andrews, and 41 seconds after that, guard Emily Cruz dropped in a pair at the free-throw line to put the Lady Knights ahead 34-32. The Rams bucketed back-to-back layups from forward Mariah Leinbach and Taylor to retake the lead, and after Price evened the score at 36-36, Leinbach recorded the succeeding four CIU points to give them a 40-36 advantage. The Lady Knights tied the game at 40-40, then trailed again at 43-40 following a trey by guard Keniah Watkins, before racing ahead 49-43 with 2:26 to go in the frame. CIU made it a three-point game at 51-48 heading into the fourth.
The Rams’ only lead of the last 10 minutes came with 7:34 remaining after Watkins hit a layup to make it 54-53. A 10-0 spurt ensued, giving the Lady Knights their largest lead up to that point before CIU brought it to a six-point score at 65-59. However, St. Andrews tallied seven of the following eight points to go up 73-60 with 2:18 left. Taylor dropped in a shot from behind the arc for CIU before a Larrimore layup and two points from the stripe by Price put St. Andrews up for good at 77-63 with 1:33 to go. Leinbach scored the last basket for CIU with 14 seconds until the buzzer sounded. Price shot 11 of 17 overall to score a game-high 27 points while also recording four assists, four steals, three rebounds, and two blocks for St. Andrews; Tougher had 16 points and three rebounds; Cruz had 15 points, seven boards, and three assists; and Starks had 14 points, four rebounds, four steals, and three assists.
Leinbach had 24 points and eight rebounds for CIU. Taylor had 12 points, three assists, and two steals, and Watkins had 11 points, nine rebounds, and three assists.
St. Andrews finished on 31-for-62 (50%) shooting and 3 of 20 (15%) on 3s. They also went 12 of 16 (75%) on free throws. CIU shot 27 of 71 (38%) from the field, 6 of 26 (23.1%) on 3-pointers, and 5 of 12 (64%) from the free-throw line.
The Rams had 42 rebounds, while the Lady Knights had 28. CIU turned the ball over 22 times, compared to just 16 for St. Andrews, and the Rams had only 10 assists, while the Lady Knights had 16. St. Andrews had 12 steals — six more than CIU had.
The Lady Knights continue AAC play at home Saturday against Kentucky Christian.