Comeback Falls Short As Women's Basketball Loses At Catawba

SALISBURY, N.C. – The Mars Hill women's basketball team had a furious second-half rally that came up just short against Catawba on Saturday, January 30 at Goodman Gymnasium. Down by as many as 27 points in the third, MHU battled back, but the comeback attempt fell short as its five-game win streak was snapped by a final of 79-66. Mars Hill falls to 8-9 overall and 7-5 in conference while Catawba improves to 10-10, 7-7.

Paige Chavis led the Lions offense on the afternoon as she poured in a team-high 17 points followed by Ansley Ricker and Genice Lane who dropped 15 apiece. Lane also collected seven boards for the Lions. What started as a cold shooting night for the Blue and Gold turned into a 25-57 performance (43.9%), including 5-10 from beyond the arc.

Bri Johnson led all scorers with a game-high 27 for the Indians, who shot 50% on the day (29-58). She also turned in a game-high nine rebounds.

After trading the initial eight points of the game, Catawba used an 18-6 run to build a 22-10 lead early in the first quarter. Ricker busted a three from the right wing to cut the Indian lead to only 23-15, but CC answered with a three of its own to take a 26-15 lead after the first period of play.

The Lions could not get anything together offensively in quarter number two and were outscored 26-16 and trailing 52-31 at the break.

Coming out in the third quarter Catawba went on an 11-5 run to build its biggest lead at 63-36 leading into the media timeout. The shooting picked up for the Lions as the basket seemed to get bigger, but for every score, Catawba had an answer.

The Blue and Gold finished the third quarter with a flurry, scoring six unanswered points, capped off by Paige Chavis' shot at the buzzer. The Lions found themselves down 67-49 heading into the final stanza.

Genice Lane opened the fourth with an old-fashioned three point play followed by a driving layup and the Lions scored the first nine points to cut the deficit to single-digits at 67-58 with just under six minutes to play.

After a three-point play from the Indians to make the score 70-58, a free throw accompanied by a bomb from Chavis and an offensive put back from Lane inched the Lions closer at 70-64. Unfortunately, the Indians were able to milk enough clock to close out a hard-fought contest, 79-66.

The Lions will be back in action on Monday, February 1 as they travel to Brevard, N.C. to take on the Tornado in a makeup game from winter storm Jonas. Tipoff is scheduled for 6:00 p.m.