Gaffney, S.C. – The King University women's basketball team opened the season on the road at Limestone University on Saturday evening, but fell 63-48.
THE BASICS
FINAL: Limestone 63 – King 48
LOCATION: Timken Center; Gaffney, S.C.
RECORDS: King 0-1, 0-0 Conference Carolinas | Limestone 1-0, 0-0 South Atlantic Conference
HOW IT HAPPENED
First Quarter
- Sarah Thompson scored the first points of the season just over a minute into the game.
- Mariya Williams had back-to-back layups to give King a 6-5 lead, but Limestone came right back for a layup to retake the lead. The Tornado would trail for the remainder of the game.
- Williams (6) and Thompson (4) had the only points scored for King in the first quarter.
Second Quarter
- Coming out of the media timeout at 5:14, King cut into the Limestone lead. Le'Aije Ellington had two three pointers and Thea Palmore had a jump shot to bring the Tornado win 8 points.
- Ellington would score the final point of the first half with a free throw before sending the teams to the locker rooms with Limestone leading 30-22.
Third Quarter
- Thompson made her two free throws to start the second half. Palmore had back-to-back buckets to bring King within a possession of the lead.
- However, Limestone responded with 16 unanswered to extend their lead.
- King's last five points of the quarter came on free throws from Alexa Gramann and Williams.
Fourth Quarter
- The home team would get their largest lead of the night at 55-35 with just over nine minutes remaining.
- The closest the Tornado would get in the final period is off a Jaelyn West jumper in the paint to close the game at 63-48.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Mariya Williams led the offense with 15 points, five of which came at the charity stripe.
- Sarah Thompson had 10 points in her Tornado debut – eight of which came from free throws.
- Ashley Allen had 10 rebounds, while both Williams and Thompson had two steals.
- King slightly outrebounded Limestone 40-39 and went 16-20 from the free throw line. The Tornado also had 11 turnovers compared to Limestone's 19.
FOR THE FOES
- Kalisha Hill had a game-high 19 points and a game-high 12 rebounds to open the season with a double-double.
- Reagan Kargo also hit 10 points and had a game-high 3 assists.
- Limestone shot 12-28 from three-point range, and outscored the Tornado in the paint 22-20 and off the bench 17-11.
UP NEXT
King will continue their SAC Crossover tomorrow with a 2 p.m. game against Lincoln Memorial. It will be held at the Timken Center.
