Belmont Abbey senior forward Shayla Jackson led the Crusaders with 23 points, but the Crusaders women's basketball team lost at Limestone 58-51 this evening, its first loss ever to the Saints in Gaffney. The Abbey women fall to 2-7 overall and 1-2 in Conference Carolinas, while Limestone moves to 6-3 overall and 2-1 in Conference Carolinas.

The Abbey shot 44.4 percent (20-45) as Jackson led the way with 23 points on 10-17 shooting with five rebounds and a steal in 33 minutes. She also converted all three of her field goal attempts. She was the only Crusader to reach double figures. Paula Regalado added nine points, one assist and one steal.

Limestone was led by Maria Young's game-high 25 points and seven rebounds, while Ashley Robinson added ten points as the Saints shot 42 percent (21-50) from the floor, but 46.7 percent (7-15) from three-point range.

The Saints never trailed in the game as it built a 28-23 halftime lead, building its advantage to as high as 11 points before the Crusaders closed the stanza on a 6-0 run, getting layups from Jackson, Regalado and Brittaney Rice in the final 1:43, to close the gap to 28-23 at the half.

Limestone maintained its lead through the early moments of the second half, moving it to as high as seven at 34-27 with 17:38 left, but a 10-3 Abbey run over the next six and a half minutes, punctuated with a Candace Fox layup, deadlocked the game at 37 with 11:08 left.

The Saints would quickly regain the lead before another Crusader run tied the contest at 45 with 7:53 left, but a free throw from Limestone's Tia Williams 1:23 later put the Saints on top for good. After that free throw, Limestone scored the next six points to extend its lead to seven at 52-45 with 4:03 remaining, and after a jumper from Jackson trimmed the deficit to three with 2:03 left, Limestone outscored the Abbey 6-2 the rest of the way, including four free throws from Williams, to provide the winning margin.

Jackson's 23 points gives her 1,121 for her career, which moves her into 13th place on the school's all-time scoring list.