BELMONT, N.C. – The Belmont Abbey women's basketball team was locked in a close battle against the Barton Bulldogs in a Conference Carolinas contest Saturday at the Wheeler Center. The Crusaders got off to a good start and were able to rally late in the game but it was the Bulldogs who came away with a 68-67 victory.

Belmont Abbey trailed by as many as 17 points in the second half before taking a 1-point lead late in the fourth quarter of the contest. The rally was put together thanks to a career-best 29 points from Jo Snow, who scored 26 points in the second half.

Belmont Abbey is now 10-6 overall and 8-4 in conference play. Barton moves to 16-1 overall and 11-1 in league play.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• After a back and forth start for both teams, The Abbey outscored Barton 9-3 over the final 1:35 of the first quarter to take an 18-17 lead.
• Autry's basket with 38.3 seconds left in the first quarter gave her 1,000 for her career. She is the 28th Crusader in program history to reach that scoring milestone.
• Autry finished Saturday's contest with 20 points and a team-best eight rebounds.
• The Crusaders were able to rally in the third quarter starting with a 3-pointer from Snow with 8:20 left in the period. Snow and Autry accounted for the first 12 points of the quarter for The Abbey.
• Belmont Abbey was able to close the deficit to six points late in the third quarter.
• Snow's 3-pointer with 1:17 left in regulation gave the Crusaders a 67-66 advantage. It was the team's first lead held since the first quarter.
• Taylor Stelley and Alexis Schulz had four assists each to lead The Abbey.

UP NEXT

• The Crusaders begin a stretch of seven straight road games starting Monday at Southern Wesleyan. The tip for that contest is at 6 p.m. in Central, S.C.
• The game is a rescheduled contest from Nov. 23.