Box Score by Doug Page
DUE WEST, S.C. – The Barton College women's basketball team rolled to its fifth-straight victory with an 82-55 triumph against Erskine College in Conference Carolinas action on Wednesday. The Lady Bulldogs entered the game as the No. 5 team in the first official NCAA Division II Southeast Region rankings, which were released early in the day on Wednesday.
The Lady Bulldogs (19-6, 14-3) erased a 38-37 first-half deficit to the Flying Fleet by outscoring Erskine 45-17 in the second-half. Barton now holds sole-possession of second place in the conference after Belmont Abbey dropped an 87-72 decision on the road against North Greenville on Wednesday. The Flying Fleet (4-19, 3-14) had things working offensively in the first half, going 18-of-37 from the field. The story would be a little different for Erskine in the second-half as the Flying Fleet went just 6-of-30 from the floor.
Junior Kianna Wynn paced the Lady Bulldogs with 17 points en route to recording a double-double with 13 rebounds in the contest. Freshman Shanika Peterkin notched a game-high 17 boards for BC while adding 13 points, six blocks, and three steals. The Virginia Beach, Va. native now has 98 blocks on the season and will look to cross the century mark against Limestone on Feb. 17. Senior Karimah Dean tallied 13 points off the bench for Barton, while senior Tatyana Jackson added 11 points and a game-high seven assists. Redshirt senior Alex Kimble scored 15 points and connected on a trio of three-pointers for the Lady Bulldogs.
Christian Brown recorded a team-high 12 points for the Flying Fleet on 6-of-14 shooting, while Alexis Scott tallied eight points and 11 rebounds for Erskine. Dareisha Sowell added 11 points and drained a pair of three's off the bench, while Megan Davis scored 10 points to go along with three assists, two blocks, and two steals.
The Bulldogs took a quick 7-4 lead in the contest as Kimble drained her first trey of the night with 8:21 left in the first quarter. BC would increase its lead to 9-4 before Scott ended the run with a jumper for the Flying Fleet. Wynn finished the old-fashioned three-point play with 6:00 left in the quarter to give Barton a 12-6 lead.
Trailing 16-10, Erskine went on a 6-0 run to knot the score and swing the momentum to the home side. Dean would end Barton's scoring drought with 1:50 left to play as she finished a layup off a feed from Kimble to give the Lady Bulldogs an 18-16 advantage. The quarter would end with both teams tied 18-18 as Scott connected on a layup with 1:03 remaining in the quarter.
Davis gave the Flying Fleet a 28-27 lead with 4:04 left in the second quarter as Erskine's rally would see the home team take a 31-27 lead to cap a 7-0 run. Wynn halted the run with 3:11 left in the half as she trimmed the deficit to 31-29. Kimble evened the score at 31-31 until Sowell hit the lone three of the half for Erskine to make it 34-31. Davis gave the Flying Fleet a late 38-36 lead following a jumper only to see BC cut the advantage to one as Wynn made 1-of-2 shots at the free-throw line to send the Lady Bulldogs into the break trailing 38-37.
Barton opened the third quarter on a 5-0 run to take a 42-38 edge following a three from Jackson with 9:00 remaining. Wynn stretched the BC lead to 45-39 as the Flying Fleet would enter a scoring drought with 6:35 left. Sowell ended the drought with a three, the final made bucket from downtown for Erskine in the game, to trim the deficit to 45-32.
Senior Taura Jones hit her lone three of the contest for Barton to give the Lady Bulldogs a 50-42 advantage with just over five minutes left in the quarter. The lead widened to 55-42 before Erskine got two points from Ollie Steadman with 2:15 left. Davis rounded out the scoring in the quarter as her jumper with 1:36 remaining cut the deficit to 57-46.
Heading into the fourth quarter, Barton used a 9-0 run to open a 66-46 lead on the scoreboard and force Erskine to call a timeout to talk things over. Out of the timeout, Davis ended the run by going 1-of-2 at the charity stripe for the Flying Fleet. A three by Kimble, followed by a layup from Wynn increased the BC lead to 71-47. The lead widened even further for the Lady Bulldogs as Peterkin finished a three-point play at the free-throw line with 4:15 remaining to make it 76-49.
Junior Alonna Terrell tallied the final four points of the contest for Barton over the last 1:55 of the quarter. Terrell finished a jumper to give the Lady Bulldogs an 81-55 lead and finished the three-point play by hitting a shot at the line with 1:15 remaining to complete the scoring on the night.
Barton shot 10-of-14 (71.4 percent) in the fourth quarter and 33-of-67 (49.3 percent) overall in the contest. The Lady Bulldogs finished the game 7-of-16 from downtown, connecting on five in the second-half. BC tallied 20 assists on its 33 made baskets in the contest and out-rebounded Erskine 51-31. The Lady Bulldogs recorded 17 second-chance points off 17 offensive rebounds and notched 20 fast break points, causing 14 turnovers by the Flying Fleet.
The Lady Bulldogs head to Gaffney, S.C. for a matchup with the Limestone College Saints on Feb. 17 at 5:30 p.m.
