Box Score BRISTOL, Tenn. – Looking to open a two game lead on Erskine College with a win, the King University women's basketball team did exactly that when the Flying Fleet came to town. Behind Chelsea Bowling's 14 points and eight rebounds, King earned a 56-49 win in a very key Conference Carolinas meeting. With the win, it is the most in a single season since head coach Josh Thompson has been at the helm.
Erskine got on the board before Tia Keitt knocked down a three point basket giving the Tornado an early one point lead. King would gain a five point advantage at 11-6 when Alley Sprouse put down a jumper. Erskine would cut the lead in half on a triple but Bowling brought the Tornado lead right back up to six after drilling a triple. The Flying Fleet would cut the lead to just two points at the under 10 media timeout.
Coming out of the timeout, Erskine tied the game up, however, Amy Van Deventer hit a free throw followed by a Bowling basket from downtown opening the Tornado lead back up to four points. With three minutes to go in the first half, Sprouse hit a jumper giving King a six point lead at 24-18. Sprouse would hit again to give the Tornado an eight point advantage but an Erskine layup with two seconds left brought us into halftime with King leading the Flying Fleet 28-22. King shot 34.4 percent from the field whereas Erskine shot 30.0 percent.
The Flying Fleet started the scoring again in the second half but Bonnie Durrett nailed a three point basket to open the lead to 31-24. Erskine would hit before Durrett would knock down another jumper. Bowling would give King their largest lead of the game up to this point, at ten, after knocking down a triple. Erskine would hit and the lead would jump from six to eight as both teams started to knock down shots.
King would open their lead to 11 on a Bowling triple with just over seven minutes to go. At the under-five media timeout, King held on to a nine point advantage, 49-40. Erskine would make a little run narrowing the Tornado lead to four points with 2:19 left in regulation. Keitt would hit a free throw to give King a five point advantage and the final horn would blow as King won the contest 56-49.
Both teams shot 34.9 percent from the field in the contest while Erskine recorded 34 points in the paint to King's 26. The Flying Fleet outrebounded the Tornado 43-42. Leading the way for King was Bowling with 14 points and eight rebounds. Van Deventer added nine points and seven rebounds in the outing.
The Tornado will face Southern Wesleyan University next, on Saturday, February 14. Tip is scheduled for 2:00 pm in the Student Center.
