Box Score
SALISBURY, NC – The Livingstone women’s basketball team was unable to hold a halftime lead and complete a second-half comeback Friday evening as they fell 74-67 to the St. Augustine’s College Falcons.
Junior guard Montiya Harrison led the Blue Bears with 17 points while freshman guard Kelcyn Manurs added 16 points. Junior guard Elicia Gilliam-Washington and freshman guard Khalia Boston each also added 11 points. Junior forward Brittany Wright led the team with eight rebounds.
St. Augustine’s came out shooting the three-pointer with success early, but after hitting two in the first three minutes to give the Falcons an 8-2 lead, they amassed only one in the final 17 minutes. Livingstone trailed by only one at 12-11 with 15:36 to play, but a 9-0 run by the Falcons put the deficit to 10 points with 13:18 on the clock.
Livingstone continued to trail by 10 with 10:02 left in the first half, but a 9-0 run by the Blue Bears got them within one with 8:34 to go and the Blue Bears then tied the game at 28-28 with 6:25 after a Khalia Boston bucket.
After the 28-28 tie, the Falcons took the next bucket to go up 30-28, but the Blue Bears then went on a 10-0 run, taking their first lead of the contest and grabbing an eight-point edge at 38-30 with under two minutes left in the half. St. Augustine’s closed the first half on a 7-2 run and Livingstone led by three points, 40-37, at halftime.
Khalia Boston led the Blue Bears with nine points at the break while Kelcyn Manurs scored eight points in the first half. Brittany Wright led the team with seven boards and also had four points.
St. Augustine’s came out and grabbed the first six points of the second half to take a 43-40 lead less than two minutes out of the break. Livingstone responded and regained a three-point edge at 48-45 with 14:30 on the clock. Following the Blue Bear lead, the Falcons went on a 10-0 run and took a 55-48 lead with 12:21 left in the contest.
Livingstone trailed by 11 points at 66-55 with 6:12 to play, its largest deficit of the game. Just as they did in the first half, the Blue Bears made a run on the Falcons. With 2:20 left in the game, the Blue Bears trailed by eight and Kayler McBride was at the free-throw line shooting two technical free throws. She missed both, but the Blue Bears still had the ball.
Off the inbound, Montiya Harrison nailed a three-pointer and the Falcon lead was down to five. After two trips down the floor for the Falcons produced no points, Harrison again put points on the board with 1:11 left to cut the Falcon lead to three. Unfortunately for the Blue Bears those were the last points they scored as St. Augustine’s hit four free throws down the stretch to seal the victory.
After shooting 45.7 percent from the field in the first half, the Blue Bears struggled from the field in the second 20 minutes, shooting only 25.7 percent. The Falcons won the battle of the boards 54-41 including 25 offensive rebounds which led to 21 second-chance points.
With the loss the Blue Bears fell to 4-5 in the Western Division, 6-13 in the CIAA and 10-16 overall. St. Augustine’s improved to 18-9 overall, 14-6 in the conference and 8-2 in the division and also clinched the Western Division title with the victory.
The Blue Bears will end the regular season in Charlotte on Saturday when they face Johnson C. Smith at 5:30 p.m. Livingstone fell in the first meeting against the Golden Bulls on a layup with four seconds left, 56-54.