Belmont Abbey junior forward Melisa Foures tied for the game-high with 14 points on five of 11 shooting from the floor, while grabbing a game-high eight rebounds as the Crusaders women's basketball team opened the curtain on the 2012-13 season with a 65-46 win over the visiting Erskine College Flying Fleet this evening at the Wheeler Center. The Abbey is now 1-0 overall and in conference play, while Erskine remains winless at 0-4 overall and 0-1 in the league.

The Crusaders shot 41 percent from the floor and an opportunistic defense forced 16 turnovers as all but four players recorded a steal. Foures led three Crusaders in double figures with 14 points, while freshman Morgan Midkiff came off the bench to net 11, and junior guard Kelsey Long added ten. Belmont Abbey led 33-20 at the half as it shot 44 percent from the field and limited Erskine to a 26 percent effort.

After Erskine closed the lead down to eight with nearly three minutes gone, an Abbey timeout stopped the threat as the Crusaders extended their lead to 20 on a 12-0 run over the next five minutes to effectively put the game away.

Erskine could only close to within 12 at 58-56 with 3:50 left, but it did not score again as the Abbey outscored the Fleet 7-0 over the final two and a half minutes to earn the victory.

The Crusaders dominated the boards by a 40-31 count as 11 of those rebounds came on the offensive end. Five of Foures's eight rebounds were offensive as she played all but one minute in the contest.

Tori Whittenburg led Erskine's offensive output with 14 points, while Chelsea Frazier added 12. The Fleet shot 31 percent from the floor in the game.