Belmont Abbey freshman guard Kelsey Long notched a double double as led all scorers with 29 points and ten rebounds as the Crusaders women's basketball team earned its first win of the year with an 84-83 overtime win at Coker this evening. The Abbey moves to 1-4 overall and evens its Conference Carolinas record to 1-1, while Coker drops to 0-6 overall and 0-1 in Conference Carolinas.

Long led all scorers and five Crusaders in double figures with a career-high 29 points on 10-20 shooting from the floor. She registered her first career double double after pulling down ten rebounds and collecting two assists and a steal. Senior Shayla Jackson and freshman Melisa Foures both finished with 15 points, while freshman Candace Fox added 14. Brittaney Rice chipped in with ten points.

Belmont Abbey shot 43.1 percent (28-65) for the game but just 36.7 percent in the first half as it trailed by as many as ten points before closing the half on an 18-10 run in the final 6:44 to cut the deficit to just one at the half at 33-32. Long scored 12 of her points and had half of her ten rebounds in the first half. Jackson hit a short jumper with 1:14 left to provide the final points of the half.
In the second half the Crusaders hit half of their shots (14-28) as it seized control of the game after Coker built its lead to 46-37 with 17:13 left. A 14-6 Crusaders run over the next four minutes gave the Abbey a one-point lead, its first advantage since the ten minute mark of the first half. After a Rice layup put the Abbey ahead 53-52 with 13:33 to play, a Coker basket gave it the lead momentarily before a jumper from Fox, followed by a three by Long, pushed the lead to four.

After a Megan Thomas basket dipped the Crusader lead back to two, the Abbey extended its lead to nine on a 7-0 run that featured a jumper from Rice, a layup from Foures and a three-pointer from Foures to push the lead to nine. Coker cut the lead to five, but a three-pointer from Long and a jumper from Jackson upped the lead to its highest of the game, ten points, 73-63, with 4:11 to go, but the Abbey would only score one more point in the final 4:11 as Coker erased the ten point lead with an 11-1 run in the final 1:58, capped off with a layup from Shanice Cooper with five seconds left to send the game into overtime with the score tied at 74.

In the extra period, Long put the Abbey up by two with a jumper, but two Cooper free throws, followed by a jumper and a layup, moved the Cobras advantage to four points at 80-76 with 3:46 left.
Two minutes later, Long cut the deficit to one with a three-pointer, but a Coker basket on the next possession pushed the lead to three. Foures then converted a three-point play, sinking a layup while being fouled, and her ensuing free throw knotted the game at 82.

Coker missed a layup at the other end that Fox rebounded and was immediately fouled, and she gave the Crusaders the lead for good when she hit the second of a two-shot free throw to put the Abbey ahead 83-82 with 46 ticks left.

With 31 seconds left, a Coker three-pointer was missed and Foures grabbed the rebound and was fouled, and her second free throw extended the lead to two.

On the next possession, Coker missed two straight looks but got the rebound both times, the second of which Sylina Dennis was fouled. She hit the first free throw and missed the second, where Long grabbed the ball and passed off to Fox, who was fouled with three seconds left. Fox missed both free throws, but Coker could not get a shot off as the Abbey earned its first win of the year.

Coker shot 47.6 percent (30-63) as Thomas led the Cobras with 27 points on 11-18 shooting from the field to go along with 11 assists. Jasmine Alston added 16 and Lucy Fish posted 12. Cooper and Nikki Grigsby both contributed ten. The Abbey won the rebounding battle 84-83 as Long's ten led all players.