The Belmont Abbey women's basketball team led Barton 30-22 at the half, but the Lady Bulldogs opened the second half on a 13-0 run, and held the Crusaders to just 15 second half points to earn a 59-47 Conference Carolinas win this evening at the Wheeler Center. Barton, which extends its winning streak against Belmont Abbey to nine, improves to 8-4 overall and 7-1 in Conference Carolinas, while the Abbey drops to 6-6 overall and 5-3 in league play.

The Crusaders led the entire first half as they shot 46 percent from the field, building their lead to as high as ten points on a Kelsey Long jumper with 50 seconds to go to widen the gap to 30-20. Barton' Nyesha Willie, who finished with a game-high 24 points, connected on a jumper with 24 ticks left to shave the Abbey's lead to 30-22 at intermission.

Barton opened the second half on fire, scoring the first 13 points of the stanza to claim its first lead. The Lady Bulldogs made their first five shots of the half to move its lead to five, while the Crusaders did not score until the 15:52 mark on a Morgan Midkiff three pointer. Two possessions later, Long converted a traditional three-point play to move the Crusaders ahead by one point, but a 20-3 Barton run would move its lead into the double digits, where it stayed as the Lady Bulldogs earned a 14 point victory.

Willie led all scorers with 24 points on 10-17 shooting with five rebounds and a steal. Shante Neal added 18 points as the Lady Bulldogs shot 50 percent (27-54) from the field, including four of seven from three-point range. Elaine Morgan led all players with ten rebounds and five assists.

Midkiff led the Crusaders with 17 points on six of eight shooting, including three for three from beyond the arc. Long posted 13 points on five of 16 shooting as the Abbey recorded a 37 percent (18-48) output.