SALISBURY, N.C. – The King University women's basketball team scored 38 points in the second half to erase a 16-point deficit but the Livingstone College Lady Blue Bears capitalized on some late free throws to win 66-62.
Sarah Thompson finished the night as the game's highest scorer with 25.
THE BASICS
FINAL SCORE: Livingstone 66 – King 62
LOCATION: New Trent Gym; Salisbury, N.C.
RECORDS: Livingstone 1-4 | King 1-4
HOW IT HAPPENED
First Quarter
- Alayna Smith opened the scoring with a layup just 33 seconds into the game.
- Back-to-back three pointers from Sarah Thompson and Le'Aije Ellington gave the Tornado their largest lead of the night at six.
- Livingstone scored a layup at the 2:18 mark to cut the King lead to three and that would remain the score headed into the second quarter.
Second Quarter
- The Lady Blue Bears would take their first lead at the 7:59 mark and would remain in the lead until early in the fourth quarter.
- King would score twelve points in the quarter to match their first quarter mark. Smith had five of those points, however, Livingstone exploded for 31 second quarter points to take a 40-24 lead into the halftime locker room.
Third Quarter
- The Tornado came out of the locker room hot as they went on an 11-3 scoring run – six coming from Thompson.
- King continued to claw into the deficit with 8 unanswered to close the period down by four points.
- King again held the Livingstone Lady Blue Bears to single digits in the frame.
Fourth Quarter
- Thompson extended the Tornado's scoring run with back-to-back shots, tying the game at 47 with 8:33 to play. Livingstone responded right away, but Thompson made a three-pointer to give King back the lead.
- For the next seven and a half minutes, the teams traded points but King couldn't get more than a one possession lead.
- Thalia Carter for Livingstone scored six points in less than a minute compared to just one made free throw for King to push the game in favor of the Lady Blue Bears.
- King had the last point of the game with a layup but with both teams posting 19 points in the fourth quarter, Livingstone maintained their four point lead.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Sarah Thompson had a game-high 25 points as she went 8-15 from the field and 7-8 from the charity stripe.
- Jaelyn West had 10 points, shooting a perfect 4-4 from the free-throw line. She had a game-high 9 rebounds, 7 of which come on the defensive end.
- Both Alexa Gramann and Le'Aije Ellington had three steals and Alayna Smith had 7 rebounds.
- As a team, the Tornado forced 19 turnovers and drew 25 fouls.
FOR THE FOES
- Thalia Carter had a team-high 19 points, aided by her 8-of-8 free throw attempts. She also had a team high 9 rebounds.
- Bria Griffith had 15 points, including a game-high three buckets from beyond the arc and a game-high 4 steals. Boston Bates was the final double-digit scorer with 11 points.
UP NEXT
After opening the season with six games on the road, the Tornado will have their home and Conference Carolinas opener on Tuesday, November 26 as they host Mount Olive at noon inside the Student Center Complex.
