Lions battle Bulldogs tough, fall late
The Mars Hill women’s basketball team (1-7, 0-4 SAC) fell in their first game of 2019 to visiting Wingate (9-4, 4-2 SAC) by a score of 65-49 Saturday afternoon inside Stanford Arena.
MARS HILL, N.C. – The Mars Hill women's basketball team (1-7, 0-4 SAC) fell in their first game of 2019 to visiting Wingate (9-4, 4-2 SAC) by a score of 65-49 Saturday afternoon inside Stanford Arena.
The teams entered the second period tied at 15-all. Leading Mars Hill offensively was the trio of Alexis Pardue, Brooke Vilcinskas and Selby Baughman who each scored four points apiece. Courtney Robinson matched their output, respectively, for the Bulldogs. During the opening 10 minutes, there were five times that the teams were tied, however, Mars Hill led for nearly six combined minutes in the first.
Wingate outscored Mars Hill 18-12 in the second and headed into the half with the six-point advantage. Caroline Averette scored eight of the Bulldogs' points, hitting all three shot attempts including two three-pointers. Vilcinskas scored five for the Lions.
Heading into the half, Wingate was converting on 40 percent of their shots compared to Mars Hill's 24 percent.
The third period saw Wingate once again outscore the Lions by a score of 18-12 to increase their lead to 12 points entering the final frame. A balanced Wingate attack was led by Teliyah Jeter, who scored a team-high five points in the period. Both Pardue and Shayla Smith had four points for the Lions.
Mars Hill played Wingate tight in the final ten minutes, but the large lead built up by the Bulldogs earlier proved too tall a mountain to climb. Smith and Wingate's Jordan Quick each had six points to lead their respective teams in the period.
Wingate outrebounded Mars Hill 48-28, including a 26-9 offensive rebound advantage.
Averette ended the contest with a game-high 16 points and collected eight rebounds. Quick ended with a double-double, scoring 12 points and pulling down 10 rebounds. Vilcinskas led the Lions with 11 points and was followed by Smith's 10 on the day. Smith and Pardue each had a team-high seven rebounds.
The Lions take to the road on Wednesday, January 9th when they travel to Tusculum. Tipoff versus the Pioneers is scheduled for 6 p.m.
