Box Score by Benny Benton
RALEIGH, N.C. – Barton College erased deficits of 12 points in the first half and eight in the second period to claim a one-point advantage with just under five minutes to play, but the Lady Bulldogs could not hold that lead and fell 68-59 to St. Augustine's University Thursday at Emery Gymnasium.
The Lady Falcons closed the game on a 16-6 run to earn their third straight victory and improve to 5-3 on the season. The Lady Bulldogs, which matched a season-high with 28 turnovers, committed five of those miscues during that final stretch in losing for the fourthstraight game and falling to 2-8 on the year.
St. Augustine's sealed the victory by making all eight of its free throw attempts in the game's final two minutes. Junior Terri Jacobs drained six of the eight on her way to a double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds. Junior Jeanne-Marie Wilson paced the Lady Falcons with 18 points, and junior Regime McCombs added 15 for the winners.
Barton was paced by freshman Alexis Johnson, who shot 7-of-12 from the field in recording 17 points. Sophomore Tiffany Webster chipped in 16 points and Brianna Thomas led the team with eight rebounds.
The Lady Falcons only enjoyed a two-rebound edge in the game (40 to 38), but took better advantage of those opportunities, scoring twice as many second-chance points as Barton. St. Augustine's nearly doubled BC in points off turnovers as well, 27-14.
The Lady Bulldogs shot 40 percent from the field in the game, losing for the first time this year when reaching that plateau.
Barton did a lot of work to reach that level after starting the game 1-for-11 from the floor. St. Augustine's wasn't much better, but did open up an early 8-2 lead. The Lady Bulldogs tied the game back at 10-all on a Shatisha Dukes layup, and BC cut another seven-point deficit back to one point at 21-20 with 6:36 left in the half on a layup by Johnson.
However, the Lady Bulldogs turned the ball over on their next four possessions, starting the Lady Falcons on a 12-1 run that gave St. Augustine's its largest lead of the night, 33-21, with two and a half minutes left in the first period.
Consecutive layups by Webster, a layup by Johnson and a pair of free throws by Thomas comprised an 8-0 run for Barton to close out the half. St. Augustine's turned the ball over four times in the final 1:13 to see its large lead slip to 33-29 at the break.
The Lady Falcons scored the first two baskets of the second half to go back up by eight, and enjoyed that same margin at 39-31 when BC again slashed the deficit back to one. Barton took its first lead of the night at the 10:02 mark of the half on a 3-pointer by Webster, and the two sides swapped the lead four times to leave the Lady Bulldogs up by one at 53-52 following two Kaila Lea free throws with 4:47 to go.
However, a layup by McCombs put St. Augustine's into the lead for good with 4:30 left, and turnovers by BC on three straight possessions helped the Lady Falcons pull away to a six-point cushion at 60-54 with 3:14 to play. St. Aug's led at least five points the rest of the way, helped by the perfect free throw shooting down the stretch.
The game completed Barton's pre-holiday schedule. The Lady Bulldogs will start the new year with a two-day Conference Carolinas road trip to Lees-McRae College and King University on January 3rd and 4th, respectively.
