Hawkins for 2 Inside

2/22 Mary Baldwin earn chance at 6th place in USA South with Win over Meredith University

Mary Baldwin College continued to move up in the USA South conference polls in this final week of competition before the conference tournament this coming Tuesday. In front of a capacity crowd at the Baldwin PAC, the Squirrels took the floor against the visiting Avenging Angels.

Jessica Carter started off the evening red hot, scoring three of the teams first four baskets in the opening minutes. With solid defense and good ball movement on offense, the Squirrels built a 12 point lead off a Jennifer Barnes basket with 10:50 left in the half. With 2:11 left the Angels Brittany Cornelius would cut the lead to 5 and make the score 40-35. The Squirrels would make a half closing charge, converting 4 baskets off of four missed shots by the Angels and a steal by Jennifer Dobson to build another 11 point lead with 44 seconds remaining. Cornelius would cut the lead to 8 with a half closing 3-pointer to make the score 46-38 going into the break.

The Avenging Angels stayed tough and Nicole Hall would work hard to keep them in the game with some scoring and good ball distribution to her teammates. The Angels cut the lead to 3 twice in the half. Jessica Carter would answer with 2 consecutive baskets with 11:27 remaining and give the Squirrels an 8 point lead. The rest of the Squirrels would contribute from this point, with solid scoring from Christie Hamilton inside and free-throw shooting from Hawkins and Dobson, the Squirrels gained control of the game. Iiesha Ricks would score 3 baskets on fast breaks to close out the game, 88-72.

MBC had 4 players with double figure scoring. Jessica Carter scored 29, Christie Hamilton had 16, Iiesha Ricks and Kara Hawkins scored 13 a piece. Hawkins had 13 rebounds as well. The team had 23 Assists, shot 54.5% for the game and 40% from 3-pt range The Squirrels are in action again tomorrow at 2pm against the Peace Pacers for Senior Day!! [Box]