[Women's Basketball] TNWU Ousts Lady Knights

ATHENS, Tenn. - The St. Andrews University women's basketball team suffered their 4th straight road loss on Saturday as they fell 72-61 on the road to the top team in the conference, Tennessee Wesleyan.

SAU got off to a good start leading by six after a low-scoring first quarter 15-9. TW then outscored the knights by just five in the second quarter 16-11 as SAU took a one-point lead into the break leading 26-25. Each team struggled shooting the ball with the Knights going 32 percent from the field but 50 percent from three-point range while the Lady Bulldogs shot 33 percent and 18 percent from three.

Unfortunately for the Lady Knights, TW came out in the third quarter on fire scoring 25 points to outscore the Knights 25-12 and take a 50-38 lead into the final period. The teams then found their stroke in the fourth with SAU running out to a 7-0 lead to claw back into the game and trail just 50-45 with 7 minutes to play. But that would be as close as St. Andrews could get as they fell 71-62, but won the quarter 23-22. TW shot 53 percent in the second half while SAU shot just 41 percent.

SAU shot the ball better overall from three going 8 of 19 for 42 percent while bringing down more offensive rebounds 15-13 as the teams tied in rebounds overall at 38 apiece.

Sophomore shooting guard Samantha Ring (SO/Carthage, NC) was the only Lady Knight to finish in double-figure scoring as she set a career-high with 21 points (5 of 13 from three) along with 3 assists and a steal. It was also Ring's 8th game this season scoring in double-digits as she leads the team with 14.7 points/game.

Also playing well was freshman forward Aquera Johnson (FR/Longs, SC) who finished with 7 points, 8 rebounds and a team-high five steals while fellow freshman forward Morgan Perkins (FR/Florence, SC) added five points, a team-best 9 rebounds, with 4 steals and 2 assists. However, the top-scoring forward for the Knights was freshman Kylie Winchell (FR/Morehead City, NC) who finished with 9 points (two 3-pointers) and 2 blocks with 3 rebounds and an assist.

Point guard Courtney Rowe (SO/Sand Rock, AL) also finished with a team-best 3 assists, six rebounds, and four steals while senior forward Ellen Dukes (SR/Augusta, GA) had 6 points and 6 rebounds before fouling out.

SAU falls to 4-5 with the loss and 3-5 in the conference while TWU improves to 9-3 and 8-1 in the AAC.

The Lady Knights will now return home to host Bluefield College (VA) (6-5) in Harris Court on Monday afternoon at 2:00 PM.