Roundup: Lady Knights outlast Tennessee Wesleyan’s late push to get upset win

LAURINBURG — It’s been another “lost” season for the St. Andrews Knights women’s basketball team; however, it doesn’t mean the effort shown has been any less.

That was evident in Saturday’s game, when St. Andrews held on for a 69-66 upset victory over the Tennessee Wesleyan Bulldogs, who dropped to 7-7 and 5-7 in Appalachian Athletic Conference play with the loss.

“We just stayed together,” St. Andrews interim head coach Randall Johnson said. “That third quarter was kind of rough, but we stayed together. We changed defenses a little bit, which helped us out, and we kind of stopped the bleeding. And we got to the fourth quarter, I said, ‘Just keep playing, keep playing.’ And we did.”

St. Andrews shot just 39.0% (23-for-59) for the game but held Tennessee Wesleyan to 35.9% (23-for-64) shooting and a 28.1% (9-for-32) clip from behind the arc. The effective defense helped the Lady Knights earn their second straight win after beating Columbia International 75-55 on Wednesday, which moved them to 5-11 and 4-11 in the AAC.

“We’re playing really good together,” St. Andrews guard Ashley Starks said. “Four of us have double (figures) each game. And then, we’re also playing as a team now. We’re all just all together every day. We’re in the gym every day, so hopefully that will keep us going.”

After being up 35-24 at halftime, St. Andrews increased its lead to 42-27 in the first 2:14 of the second half. But a 12-0 scoring stretch put Tennessee Wesleyan down by only three points before the Bulldogs cut into St. Andrews’ lead even further at 45-44 at the end of the third quarter.

“I thought we were a little flat. But in all honesty, it’s Tennessee Wesleyan; they always make shots,” Johnson said. “They started making more; first half, it was (2-for-12) from 3. That third quarter, they made (four) of them. So I think that really was the difference in that quarter.”

Jacelyn Stone bottomed the first six points of the fourth to give the Bulldogs a 50-45 lead. At the 6:14 mark, Emily Cruz snapped St. Andrews’ scoring drought with a layup, and after Tennessee Wesleyan extended its lead to six, treys from Hailey Crozier and Starks evened it at 53-53 with just under five minutes to go.

Stone’s jumper moved the Bulldogs back in front, but Starks was fouled by Cambree Mayo on a 3 and helped St. Andrews reclaim the lead by hitting all three free throws.

Starks, who finished with 25 points and five steals, continued her hot streak, raining in a 25-foot 3-pointer following a Cruz layup to extend St. Andrews’ lead to 61-55 before it increased to 65-55 with close to 40 seconds left.

“I feel like our past couple games, I was getting in my head about my shots,” Starks said. “A lot of my supporters are like, just shoot the ball, just have confidence. So I’m just in the gym every day shooting the ball, (gaining) confidence from deep.”

With St. Andrews ahead 66-57 with a little under 30 seconds remaining in the game, Tennessee Wesleyan’s Abbey Barr drilled a 3-pointer with 20 seconds left to make it a six-point game. After Crozier was fouled and made both of her shots from the line to make the score 68-60, Anna Crowder connected from distance with 12 seconds to go to put the Bulldogs within five.

Starks went 1 of 2 on her free-throw trip for St. Andrews with seven seconds left, and a Stone trey for the Bulldogs with the game clock stopped on 2.4 made it 69-66. Following a Tennessee Wesleyan timeout, a tie-up on St. Andrews’ inbound gave the Bulldogs a final chance to tie with the possession arrow in their favor and 1.8 seconds remaining, but they failed to get the ball off in time as St. Andrews survived.

“Ashley Starks made some huge buckets,” Johnson said. “We got some stops when we changed defenses again. Once we changed defenses again, I think it helped us out.”

Before tipoff, St. Andrews was assessed a technical foul due to “a maintenance issue as to where the bulb in the back of one of the scoreboards didn’t go off when the clock went off,” according to Johnson, giving Tennessee Wesleyan a 1-0 advantage to start.

”It was a situation where (it was) out of our control,” Johnson said. “They don’t call it a lot in the guy’s game … but the girl’s game is the second time I’ve seen that.”

The Bulldogs led 6-3 in the first quarter before the Lady Knights netted 11 of the ensuing 13 points to go ahead 14-8 with 2:37 left in the period. Following a 3-point shot by Tennessee Wesleyan’s Jaci Powell, Cruz made a layup, and Madison Larrimore knocked down two free throws for St. Andrews before Crowder hit a 3 for the Bulldogs to make it 18-13 with 10 minutes down.

The Bulldogs opened the second quarter scoring six consecutive points to regain the lead, but an A.J. Price layup sparked an 11-3 run to help St. Andrews lead 29-22 about 4 1/2 minutes in. The Lady Knights’ lead stretched to double digits at 34-24, and Samantha Tougher’s foul shot with eight seconds to go in the half made St. Andrews’ lead 11 at the break.

Along with Starks’ double-scoring figures for the Lady Knights, Cruz and Price each scored 15. Cruz, who dished seven assists, was also one of two players with double-digit rebounds, as she grabbed 17 rebounds and Madison Larrimore corraled 12.

Stone finished with 28 points, eight assists and six rebounds for the Bulldogs; Powell had 12 points and nine assists and Crowder had 10 points, four rebounds and three steals.

St. Andrews visits Johnson University in Knoxville, Tennessee, on Wednesday.

Knights’ shooting struggles fade early lead in loss to Tennessee Wesleyan

A poor 21-for-66 (31.8%) shooting performance flattened the St. Andrews Knights men’s basketball team in a 79-53 decision to the Tennessee Wesleyan Bulldogs Saturday.

“Frustration will do that to you,” said a taciturn Randy Hernandez, St. Andrews’ head coach, on his team’s tough day making shots. ”We’re not consistent. We don’t know (how to battle) adversity.”

The loss is St. Andrews’ 12th consecutive; the Knights’ last win came on Nov. 16.

“They’ve got to want it,” Hernandez said on how his team can snap its losing streak.

With about five minutes played, St. Andrews (3-15, 1-15 Appalachian Athletic Conference) took an 11-9 lead on Jalen Mcafee-Marion’s layup before his 3-pointer a possession later made it 14-9. The Knights held the lead until the 10:22 mark when Kariden Hardrick’s layup put Tennessee Wesleyan (5-9, 5-8 AAC) ahead 19-18. Hardrick’s basket stemmed a 23-9 Bulldogs run that lasted to halftime when the score was 42-27.

“We don’t know how to be up and keep winning,” Hernandez said. “Again, we’re not consistent.”

Back-to-back layups by Quwan Barnes and Garrett McRae opened the second-half scoring for the Knights, but 44-31 was the smallest their deficit would be, as Tennessee Wesleyan put together a lead as large as 29 at 66-32 with 12:09 to play to outscore St. Andrews 35-22 the rest of the way.

Mcafee-Marion closed with 11 points for St. Andrews. Barnes had nine points and rebounds apiece and Caleb Brown had four steals.

Darius Rozier scored 22 points on 10-for-14 shooting with nine rebounds for the triumphant Bulldogs; Keshawn McPherson netted 14 points with six rebounds; Kobe Pride dropped 10 points with seven rebounds; Jay Reed had five rebounds and four steals and Nichaune Jones pulled down six rebounds.