Belmont Abbey shot 41 percent from the floor and its defense held St. Andrews Presbyterian to a 24 percent effort and forced 23 turnovers as the Crusaders women's basketball team earned its largest margin of victory of the season with a 71-40 win this evening in Laurinburg. The win evens its overall record to 7-7 and raises its conference ledger above .500 at 5-4, while St. Andrews falls to 1-11 overall and 0-9 in Conference Carolinas.

The Abbey sank 15 of its 37 field goal attempts as senior guard Courtney Naquin led three Crusaders and all scorers with 19 points on six of 11 shooting from the field. Paula Regalado added 18 points, five rebounds, two assists and a steal in 27 minutes, while senior guard Ashley Giddens contributed 13 points, six rebounds, three steals and a career-high eight assists in 31 minutes.

St. Andrews shot 24 percent (8-33) as Kayla Hay led the Lady Knights with 18 points on seven of 12 shooting from the floor. She was the only St. Andrews player to reach double figures.

Belmont Abbey opened the game on a 7-0 spurt over the first 3:02 and never looked back as its advantage grew to as high as 15 at 31-16 with 2:15 remaining. After the Abbey scored the first seven points of the contest, the Lady Knights went on a 9-3 run to trim the Abbey's cushion to one point at 10-9 with 12:51. The Abbey responded with a 20-7 run, punctuated by a three-pointer by Naquin, to claim the 31-16 lead. The Lady Knights outscored the Abbey 6-2 in the final 1:45 to cut the Abbey's margin to 33-22 at the half.

The second half was all Belmont Abbey, as the Crusaders held the Lady Knights to just four field goals on 18 attempts (22 percent) while they shot 47 percent to outscore St. Andrews 38-18 in the half.

Belmont Abbey quickly moved its lead to 26 points on the strength of a 15-0 run to open the half, grabbing a 48-22 lead with 15:51 left. St. Andrews didn't record its first point of the half until the 14:56 mark on a three-pointer by Brianna Bombich. The Crusaders lead never dipped below 24 points and claimed its biggest lead of the game, 31 points, at 69-38 on a Dana Middleton free throw with 1:49 left.