The Belmont Abbey women's basketball team lost at Barton by a 68-48 score this evening in Wilson Gymnasium in a Conference Carolinas matchup. Barton seals the number two seed in next week's Conference Carolinas tournament as it improves to 19-6 overall and 18-3 in Conference Carolinas, while the Abbey, which will play on the road in the first round of the conference tournament as either the fifth, sixth or seventh seed, drops to 12-13 overall and 11-10 in Conference Carolinas.

Barton never trailed as it opened the game on a 20-4 run in the first 7:26. The Bulldogs would move their lead to 27-6, the highest of the half, with 7:59 to play, but the Abbey fought back. The Crusaders closed the half on an 18-6 run to get the deficit down to single digits at 33-24 at halftime.

In the second half the Crusaders inched the lead down to as few as eight points four times, the first time on a pair of Alyx Ingram free throws, the next two on baskets from Morgan Midkiff and McKenzie Owen and the last on a traditional three-point play from Ingram, which closed the Barton lead to 47-39 with exactly nine minutes left.

Barton absorbed the Abbey's run and closed the game with a 19-9 run to move its lead back to 23 points. Midkiff swished a three-pointer with two seconds left to close the scoring.

Midkiff led the Abbey with 15 points on five of 15 shooting. She also had five rebounds and two assists. Owen added ten points on two of eight shooting from the floor, while sinking all six of her free throw attempts. Melisa Foures tied for the game-high with eight rebounds. Belmont Abbey shot 31.5 percent (17-54) from the field but was just one of 15 from three, with Midkiff's trifecta at the buzzer representing the Crusaders only successful three-pointer on the night.

Janae Jackson led four Bulldogs in double figures with a game-high 20 points. She sank eight of 16 from the field and made four of five from the line. Ashley Thornton added 16 points, while Nyesha Willie and Elaine Morgan both added ten. Barton shot 44.6 percent (25-56) from the floor.