BANNER ELK, N.C. – The King University women's basketball team ran into a hot-shooting Lees-McRae College team on Tuesday night. The Bobcats shot well from the field, while slowing the Tornado offense to hand King an 85-59 defeat.
THE BASICS
FINAL: Lees-McRae 85, King 59
LOCATION: Williams Gymnasium; Banner Elk, N.C.
RECORDS: King 2-19, 1-10 Conference Carolinas; Lees-McRae 2-14, 1-10 Conference Carolinas
HOW IT HAPPENED
First Period
- King started out hot from long range as Brianna Dunbar, Jaden Potts and Morgan Bone all connected from deep in the first three minutes to give King a 9-6 lead.
- An Alexa Gramann layup later evened the score at 11 before the Bobcats scored 10 straight points before an Alayna Smith layup.
- King cut into their deficit with a pair of Dunbar free throws and a Smith basket at the buzzer, but Lees-McRae led 22-17 after the opening 10 minutes.
Second Period
- Jhayda McKinney pulled King within 22-19 with a basket early in the quarter, but Lees-McRae responded with six straight points before a Gramann basket.
- Smith then made a pair of free throws to pull King within 28-23.
- However, Lees-McRae closed the final 5:24 of the quarter on a 16-0 run to take a 44-23 lead at the break.
- Lees-McRae shot 57.6 percent from the floor while holding King to a 24.2 field goal percentage.
Third Period
- The Tornado offense tried to get a comeback going in the first half of the quarter, but the Bobcats had an answer for each King basket.
- Lees-McRae then closed the quarter on a 10-0 run take a 65-37 lead into the final quarter.
Fourth Period
- Early in the quarter, the Tornado cut into their deficit, pulling within 70-49 six minutes into the quarter.
- However, the Bobcats extended their lead and took the contest 85-59.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Bone led the Tornado with 11 points while Dunbar and Ashley Phillip added 10 points each.
- Dunbar added four assists while Ashley Allen led the way with five rebounds.
FOR THE FOES
- Nadiya Hariston, Layla Tillery and Leah Barringer led Lees-McRae with 14 points each.
- Logan Dutka added 11 points and 10 rebounds while Kirsten Watt scored 10 points.
- Emily Barr chipped in with eight points and 10 rebounds.
- The Bobcats shot a season-best 52.2 percent.
UP NEXT
- The Tornado return home to take on North Greenville University at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday in the Student Center Complex.
- Lees-McRae hosts Young Harris College on Saturday afternoon.
