Trailing 58-48 with 8:27 left in the game, the Belmont Abbey women's basketball team outscored Lees-McRae 16-5 in the final 7:20 to cap off the 2009-10 regular season with a 66-63 win in Banner Elk this evening. Belmont Abbey, which finished in a five-way tie for second in Conference Carolinas, moves to 17-10 overall and 15-7 in Conference Carolinas, while the Lady Bobcats end their season with a record of 4-22 overall and 4-18 in Conference Carolinas.

Belmont Abbey shot 52 percent from the field as Courtney Naquin led all scorers with 21 points, nine coming during the Abbey's late second half comeback. Asha Hardaway added 12 points, while Amanda McDonald, Ashley Giddens and Shayla Jackson all finished with ten points. Six of McDonald's ten points came in the final 8:45, the final one tying the game at 60 with 3:18 left.

Lees-McRae was led by Colette Montgomery's 18 points, while Lauren Casey added 12 and Renee Roberson chipped in with ten as the Lady Bobcats shot 42 percent from the floor.

Lees-McRae built a 37-28 halftime lead behind a 53 percent shooting effort from the field as Montgomery totaled 14 of her 18 points in the half. Montgomery sank six of her eight field goal attempts but was just one for four in the second half with two free throws.

In the second half the Lady Bobcats advantage grew to as high as 11 points and the Abbey could not cut it to any fewer than four at 50-46 with 10:22 left. After that basket, Lees-McRae embarked on an 8-2 run to widen the gap to 58-48 with 8:27 left, but it would only score five more points the rest of the way.

McDonald closed the lead to eight with a jumper, followed by another one 1:25 later. A Naquin three-pointer followed by a basket by Jackson cut the deficit to three. Montgomery interrupted the run with a short jumper to move the lead back to five, but another three from Naquin closed the lead to two at 60-58 with 4:36 left, and McDonald tied the game for the third time1:18 later.

Flowers buried a three-pointer to briefly give the Lady Bobcats the lead at 63-60 with 2:20 left, but they would not score again. Naquin buried a trifecta to knot the game for the fourth and final time at the 1:59 mark, and 1:09 later, Hardaway gave the Abbey the lead for good with an offensive rebound and conversion off of a Jackson miss to push the Crusaders ahead 65-63.

The lead held up as Lees-McRae missed its final three shots of the game, and Paula Regalado sank the final basket of the game with a free throw with one second left.

The Abbey will enter next week's Conference Carolinas Tournament as the sixth seed after ending the year in a five way tie for second. It will open the tournament Monday night at 7:00 on the road against the third-seeded Limestone Saints.