Lions Fall to King in Home Opener

MARS HILL, N.C.- The Mars Hill women's basketball team was unable to overcome a slow start and dropped a 62-43 decision to King in the Lions' home opener at Stanford Arena Tuesday night.

The Tornados opened the game on a 14-2 run and didn't allow the Lions to get any closer than six the rest of the way. King was led by Allison Bosse with 13 points on 4-of-8 shooting. Mars Hill was led by Armeka Booker's 12 points. Mars Hill fell to 1-3 on the season, while King improved to 2-1.

Ansley Ricker and Autumn Ward each added six points for MHC. Kelsey Espinosa grabbed a team-high seven rebounds. The Lions shot 30.8 percent from the floor (16-of-52).

Bonnie Durrett added 12 points and 13 rebounds, while Kelly Jackson notched 10 points on 5-of-7 shooting for King. The Tornados hit 23-of-65 (35.4 percent) from the field and scored 19 second-chance points.

King opened the game on a 14-2 run over the first 5:13 of play. Sparking the run was six points by Johnson. A put-back by Bosse capped the run before an Autumn Ward bucket stopped the Tornado surge.

The Lions were able to close the halftime deficit to 28-20 with a 7-2 run over the final 4:59 of the half. MHC held the Tornados without a field goal during the run. Mars Hill shot 31.8 percent (7-of-22) in the first half, while King connected on 37.5 percent (12-of-32) of their field goal attempts.

Mars Hill cut the deficit to six with 12:21 to play after a 6-0 run. Four points from Ricker and a bucket from Taylor Tate made up the run.

The Tornados would not allow the Lions any closer the rest of the way, outscoring MHC 22-9 over the game's final 12 minutes. A jumper by Stephanie Brantley capped off the scoring.

Mars Hill will travel to Brevard for a South Atlantic Conference matchup with the Tornados on Saturday, Dec. 1 at 4:00 p.m.