BRISTOL, Tenn. – The King University women's basketball team stopped their modest three game skid on Tuesday evening when the opened their Conference Carolinas schedule with a victory over Barton College. The Tornado defense was stout in the first half, giving King an advantage they would not relinquish, taking the contest 72-61.

THE BASICS
FINAL SCORE: King 72, Barton 61
LOCATION: Student Center Complex, Bristol, Tenn.
RECORDS: King 2-3, 1-0 Conference Carolinas, Barton 2-3, 0-1 Conference Carolinas

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The King defense held Barton without a field goal through the first six minutes of the first quarter, allowing the Tornado to take a 7-0 lead.
• Amy Van Deventer started the scoring while Kristen Cupples followed with a three-point basket and Ashley Albertson capped the run with a layup.
• The Bulldogs closed the quarter with a layup and a triple to cut their deficit to 16-14.
• The Tornado defense vamped up in the second quarter, forcing 11 turnovers and scoring 15 points off those miscues in the quarter.
• Leading 22-21, Jalan Harper started a run with a layup and Brittany Stringer followed with a triple. Arnelle Collins then took a steal and converted the layup to stretch the King lead back to 29-21.
• King then scored six straight points, capped by a Sheena Johnson fasbreak layup after a Cupples steal to give King a 36-25 lead.
• Barton scored the final two points of the quarter to make the halftime score 36-27 in favor of the Tornado.
• King grabbed their largest lead of the game for the first time at 50-36 following a Whitney Mitchell layup.
• The Tornado held a 56-47 lead entering the fourth quarter where the Bulldogs tried to make a run late. Barton got within 67-61, but Collins thwarted their momentum with a three-point basket as King went on to take the game 72-61.
• Collins paced the Tornado with 15 points while Mitchell followed with 12 and Harper chipped in with 10.
• Van Deventer led King with 12 rebounds to go along with six points.

FOR THE FOES

• Both teams shot 41.2 percent from the floor with the Bulldogs having the edge from long range. Barton shot 30.8 percent from three while King shot 28.0 percent.
• Kianna Wynn led the Bulldogs with 14 points and 14 rebounds.
• JerBria Smith added 13 points and Karimah Dean chipped in with 10.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE

• Johnson broke into the scoring column for the first time in her career, tallying six points.
• The 12 rebounds for Van Deventer set a season-high and was four away from her career-high.

UP NEXT

• King will be in action again on Wednesday, December 2 when they face Pfeiffer University at 5:30 p.m. in the Student Center Complex.
• Barton returns to the court on Tuesday when they host Converse College.