ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. -- Seventh-ranked Clayton State fell on Saturday to Peach Belt Conference opponent Flagler and in the process had an impressive winning streak snapped.
The Lakers lost 74-63 to the Saints, snapping a 36-game road winning streak. The program's past road regular-season loss had come in the 2009-10 season against Montevallo on Feb. 20, falling 65-60. The loss to Flagler was also only the second conference loss for Clayton State in the past 56 Peach Belt games, dating back to the 2010-11 season.
Trailing by 12 points 58-46 with 10:17 remaining in the game, the Lakers made a late run and cut the deficit to four points 60-56 on a jumper by guard Bena Hanyard with seven minutes remaining. The Lakers would come no closer though, as the Saints answered with a 14-5 stretch in the next five minutes to seal the victory.
An old-fashioned three-point play by Flagler's Treva Mason with 2:15 remaining gave the Saints a 74-61 lead. Neither team scored during the next two minutes until Clayton State center Andrea Benford scored a basket in the paint in the final seconds.
With the loss, the Lakers drop to 8-3 overall and 3-1 in the Peach Belt, while Flagler improves to 4-7 and 2-2 in the league. The win for the Saints was their first against the Lakers in six all-time meetings.
No. 3 Emporia State 74, Lincoln (Mo.) 49
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Emporia State held Lincoln to just 13 points in the first half on the way to a 74-49 win against the Blue Tigers.
No. 4 Nova Southeastern 69, Eckerd 50
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Nova Southeastern notched its program-record 10th consecutive win, overcoming a 14-point first-half deficit to top Eckerd on Saturday 69-50.
The Sharks (10-0, 2-0 SSC) trailed 37-23 with 5:28 to go in the first, but scored the last five points before the break and first 10 points after. With that, they led Eckerd (6-4, 0-1 SSC) 38-37, their first lead since the 18:08 mark in the first half.
After a Rana Thomas basket for the Tritons gave them a 39-38 lead, the Sharks scored 21 of the next 25 points to push the game out of reach. Overall, it was a 36-6 run at that point, with 3:09 remaining. NSU's defense held the home team to 14.8 percent shooting in the second half (4-of-27), and 0-for-6 from behind the arc after Eckerd had made six first-half 3-pointers.
Taylor Buie led the Sharks with 18 points, including 4 of 7 from long range. Jasmine Wilkins was just a rebound shy of a double-double, with 16 points on 7 of 10 shooting, and nine boards.
No. 5 Colorado Mesa 67, Colorado Mines 61
GOLDEN, Colo. -- Colorado Mesa moved to 12-0 on the season after a 67-61 win against Colorado Mines on Saturday in Lockridge Arena.
In a see-saw battle, Colorado Mines had the score tied at 53-53 but the Mavericks outscored the Orediggers 14-8 in the final 5:19 of the game. Aubry Boehme had six points in that run and the Mavericks made 6-of-7 from the free-throw line in that stretch.
Sharaya Selsor led a trio of Mavericks in double-figures with 19. Christen Lopez added 16 and Boehme added 14 for Colorado Mesa.
The Mavericks finished the night shooting 46 percent from the field, including 25 percent from the three-point line. They also connected on 83 percent from the free-throw line.
For the first time this season, Colorado Mesa didn't win the rebounding battle. The Mavericks and Orediggers tied, each grabbing 33 rebounds.
Allie Grazulis led the Orediggers with 14 points and 14 rebounds.
At halftime, the Mavericks shot 45 percent from the floor and made both free-throw attempts. Selsor led all scorers with 12 while Hannah Pollart, Aubry Boehme and Taylor Rock each had four rebounds.
No. 8 Central Missouri 73, Nebraska-Kearney 66
WARRENSBURG, Mo. -- The Jennies remained perfect in MIAA play after taking down visiting Nebraska-Kearney 73-66 at the Multipurpose Building on Saturday afternoon.
Central Missouri (10-1, 4-0 MIAA) faced an eight-point deficit with just under 10 minutes remaining in the opening half 28-20. Keuna Flax and Shelby Winkelmann engineered an 11-0 run against the next 7:04, providing the Jennies with a 31-28 lead with 2:53 to go until intermission.
The Lopers (5-6, 2-3 MIAA) closed out the half outscoring UCM 9-5 led by Shelby Zimmerman who deposited four points and Kelsey Fitzgerald who dropped a layup with 17 seconds left, cutting UCM's lead to one at 37-36. Flax had 17 points and six rebounds in the first 20 minutes - the game's only player who registered in double-figure scoring in the first half. The Jennies were outscored 22-20 in the paint and had just four points from their bench versus 12 points from the Lopers' second unit.
In the the first 8:42 of the second half, the two foes battled to two lead changes and four ties, the final tie coming at 55-55 with 11:18 left in the game after Fitzgerald hit a jumper, her ninth and 10th points on the afternoon. UNK's Amarah Williams drew a foul and split two free throws to put the Lopers ahead 56-55 with 10:46 on the clock.
Flax sank a three-pointer 23 seconds later to put the Jennies ahead for good.
Simon Fraser 63, No. 9 Seattle Pacific 60
SEATTLE -- Simon Fraser beat the Seattle Pacific Falcons 63-60 on Saturday night.
Coming off of a loss to the Montana State-Billings Yellowjackets on Thursday, the Clan rebounded with the big win, coming from behind in the second half.
"Whenever you play a ranked team it's big," Clan head coach Bruce Langford said. "But we've never won on this court before, it's something we've wanted to get off our back. So that was very nice to be able to do that."
After leading 26-21 at the half, the Clan allowed the Falcons back in it as Seattle Pacific went on a 19-4 run to start the second half.
However, the Clan were able to start their comeback as senior Rebecca Langmead scored back-to-back baskets and then made a nice tip pass to junior Katie Lowen who was able to finish it with the lay in. This cut the Falcons lead to 42-36, as Langmead finished with eight points, five rebounds and three blocks, while Lowen finished with a 14 points and a team-high six rebounds and four assists.
Seattle Pacific would again go up by double digits 48-38 but SFU again battled back with under 10 minutes remaining in the second half. Junior Erin Chambers would score four consecutive points, contributing to her team-high 15 points, including a basket and free throw to tie the game at 48.
Senior Kia Van Laare came off the bench and scored eight points, including four off of free throws with under three minutes left. Her final two would give the team the lead 62-60 which would stand as the winning points as Chambers added one more with seconds left.
