Ervin's Career High Not Enough As Lions Fall to Coker

HARTSVILLE, S.C. – A shorthanded Lions women's basketball team lost to South Atlantic Conference rival Coker by a score of 82-51 on Saturday afternoon. Mars Hill fell to 6-20 overall and 4-16 in the SAC, while the Cobras improved to 6-19 overall and 5-15 in the league.

Madison Ervin led the Lions with a career-high 21 points, but it was not enough as she was the only player to reach double-digits for the Blue and Gold. Jenny Edwards chipped in nine points and Paige Chavis tallied seven points to go along with her team-high five rebounds. The Lions shot only 25.4% (16-63) from the floor and turned the ball over 12 times. Mars Hill was outrebounded 50-24 during the course of the contest.

The initial six-plus minutes of the game was very evenly contested as the two teams traded the lead a total of four times. However, with the score knotted at 11-all, Coker knocked down a pair of free throws and a long range shot to take a 16-11 advantage with a minute and half remaining in the opening quarter. Mars Hill continued to fight and made a rally heading into the second. Following a steal from Chavis, Ervin cashed in an and-one before Edwards' board-and-score trimmed the deficit to 20-17 after the first 10 minutes.

Destini Reed netted a jumper to open the second, pulling the Lions to a single point (20-19), but a 7-0 spurt by the home team gave CC the lead at 27-19. That run continued to the tune of 20-8 over the remainder of the period and Coker took a comfortable 40-27 lead into the break.

Four quick points out of the halftime gate by the Cobras pushed the lead to 43-27 before a jumper by Valeriya Pokrovskaya buried a two-pointer to get the Lions going in the second half. Coker split a pair from the charity stripe on its next possession and MHU reeled off five in a row to narrow the gap to 44-34. However, that would be as close as it got as Coker went on a massive 19-8 scoring run to end the third, leading 61-42 heading into the fourth.

A three pointer by Lindsey Adams at the 3:04 mark of the fourth gave the Cobras their biggest lead of the contest (79-46) before cruising to the 82-51 win.

Coker shot a sizzling 59.6% from the field (34-57), led by Adams' 18. Iresha Cooper and Sydney Shull chipped in 15 and 13 points, respectively, while Elizabeth Kincaid reached double-digits with 11. Cooper also hauled in a game-high nine rebounds.

The Lions will look to bounce back as they travel to Greeneville, Tenn. to take on the Tusculum Pioneers on Wednesday, February 22 in a pivotal conference matchup. Tipoff for that contest is scheduled for 6 p.m.