Batesville, AR 1/18/2024- The Westminster College women's basketball team started their three-game road trip by taking on the Lyon College Scots in Batesville, Arkansas. The Scots are newcomers to the SLIAC, and this was their first meeting on the hardwood.
The Scots came out firing on all cylinders, jumping out to a 12-4 lead in the early goings. They would extend that lead to 22-11 midway through the first quarter and ended the quarter with a 34-25 lead over the Blue Jays.
Westminster would make an adjustment in between quarters and stepped up the defensive intensity, holding the Scots offense to just 12 points in the 2nd quarter after giving up 34 points in the first. The Blue Jays defense forced 12 turnovers in the 2nd quarter as they mounted their comeback and took the lead heading into halftime up 52-46.
The Blue Jays grew their lead to 10 points at 66-56 with 5:35 left in the third quarter. The Scots would start to mount a comeback of their own, cutting the Westminster lead to two points near the end of the third quarter. The Jays would stop the Lyon comeback attempt and countered with a 12-7 run to take an 80-73 lead heading into the 4th quarter.
Lyon would get to the free line a lot in the fourth quarter and chipped away at the Westminster lead, scoring five straight points from the line to make it 82-78 with 8:38 remaining. The Blue Jays would get their lead back up to nine points with forty seconds remaining and would win the game 102-97.
Westminster would have four different players score in double figures and have one player with nine points. Annette Ramirez led the way with a season-high 35 points and a team-high 13 rebounds and 6 assists. Senior Avylina Powell-Qualo had 16 points and 7 rebounds and fellow senior Caragan Lockard tied a season-high 14 points. Oliva Hixson also tied a season-high in scoring with 13 points. Tristian Porter would drop three three-pointers as she had nine points off the bench.
The Blue Jays will continue their trip down to the southern United States as they head to Columbus, Mississippi, to take on the Mississippi University for Women on Saturday, January 20th. That game will tip off at 1:00 PM.
