Women's Basketball Drops 62-57 Decision to Eagles

MARS HILL, N.C. – Mars Hill's women's basketball team dropped a 62-57 decision to Carson-Newman Tuesday night in Stanford Arena. The Lions fell to 1-4 on the season and 0-3 in the SAC. The Eagles improved to 5-1 overall, 3-0 in the league.

Ansley Ricker led MHU with 13 points followed by Brittany Baker recorded her first career double-double with 12 points and the same number of rebounds. Kelsey Espinosa notched her third double-double of the season in the loss with 10 points and 10 boards.

Tatum Burstrom led all scorers with 20 points followed by Chante Markus and Taylor Peterson who scored 12 points apiece.

Neither team shot the ball well in the game. MHU hit 31.7% (20-63) from the floor while the Eagles only hit 30.3% (23-76) of their attempts. A big difference in the game came at the foul line as the Lions connected on only 44% (11-25) of their shots at the charity stripe. The Lions came into the game hitting 72.1% from the free throw line. If they could have maintained that percentage tonight, they would have won by two points. The game saw 14 lead changes and five ties.

A layup by Haley Coffelt gave the Eagles their largest lead of the game of nine points (20-11) with 10:55 left in the first half. The Lions answered scoring 11 unanswered points to lead by two (22-20) with 6:05 on the clock after Sydney Comer hit a shot from behind the arc. MHU would hold onto a one-point (29-28) advantage at the break.

After Ricker started the second frame hitting a 3-pointer to give the Lions their biggest lead of four points (32-28) with 19:04 left in the game. After that point, the lead changed eight times before a layup by Jai Jai McLaughlin with 4:33 left in regulation gave the Eagles 51-50 advantage they would not relinquish. A basket by Peterson and two foul shots by Markus extended Carson-Newman's lead to 55-50 with 2:48 on the clock. Two 3-pointers by Ricker closed the gap to a single point (57-56) with 1:58 left in the contest but the Eagles held on to the win by sinking 4-6 free throws in the final minutes to leave Stanford Arena with a 62-57 victory.

The Lions will return to action on December 6, when they host Wingate. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m.