Box Score
SALISBURY, NC – The Livingstone women's basketball team battled hard Monday evening to overcome a pesky St. Augustine's team and grab an 84-80 victory.
Livingstone (12-4, 7-2, 2-1) was led by Brittany Wright who recorded her seventh double-double of the season with 23 points and 12 rebounds before fouling out of the game. Cassaundra Rhodes also added 16 points while Jasmine Murray scored 10.
Livingstone got off to another slow start as the Falcons (11-8, 5-4, 0-3) jumped out to a quick 8-2 lead, but the Blue Bears battled back on a 7-0 run to grab a 9-8 lead with 15:20 left in the opening half. Over the next three minutes the lead changed hands four times. Livingstone found itself down two with 12:16 to go, but went on a 7-0 run to go up 18-13 with 10:28 left.
The Blue Bears maintained their lead for the next four minutes before St. Augustine's grabbed the lead back with 6:24 left in the first half. The Falcons led by five with three minutes left, but Livingstone was able to grab a one-point edge with 1:02 left. St. Augustine's nailed a jumper with eight seconds left in the half to take a 37-36 lead into the break.
Neither team was able to grab hold of the game early in the second half and the two teams were all square at 43-43 with 16:20 on the clock. The Blue Bears took a two-point edge with 14:58 left, and got their lead up to eight points with 13:53 remaining. The Livingstone advantage hit double digits with 10:46 left in the contest.
The Blue Bears continued to lead by 11 points with 8:55 left, but the Falcons still had some fight left in them. The Livingstone lead was cut to only four points with 5:39 left in the contest. The Blue Bears battled to get their lead back to eight points with 2:55 left, but an 11-2 run by the Falcons, keyed by full-court pressure gave St. Augustine's 78-77 lead with 52 seconds left.
With 46 seconds left Montiya Harrison found Cassaundra Rhodes wide open under the basket. Rhodes hit the jumper and was fouled. She converted the three-point play to put the Blue Bears up 80-78. St. Augustine's couldn't hit on its next trip down the court and Montiya Harrison was fouled after grabbing the rebound. Harrison hit both free throws to put the Blue Bears up four, a lead they didn't relinquish.
Livingstone had a strong shooting night, hitting 40.5 percent of its shots from the field including 28.6 percent from three-point range. The Blue Bears still struggled from the charity stripe, converting only 20 of 32 free-throw attempts.
The Blue Bears will have a few days of rest before their next game on Saturday when they travel to Winston-Salem State University for a 5:30 p.m. contest.
