BANNER ELK, N.C. – Peyton Nation matched her career-high in scoring and Belmont Abbey used a strong second half to earn a 62-45 win over Lees-McRae in a Conference Carolinas Northwest Division contest Wednesday evening at Williams Gymnasium.
Belmont Abbey outscored Lees-McRae 37-19 in the second half to pull away with the win, including separate runs of 8-2 and 13-3 in the third quarter.
Nation finished with 20 points on the night to go with seven rebounds and five steals. She scored 20 points one other time in her career back in November of 2021 against North Greenville.
Abigail Crain finished one rebound shy of a double-double with 14 points and nine rebounds.
Catherine Hendershott also added 14 points with four steals, four rebounds and three assists.
The Crusaders won their seventh straight contest and improved to 12-5 overall and 6-1 in Conference Carolinas. Lees-McRae is now 1-12 overall, 0-7 in league play.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Crain scored six of Belmont Abbey's 10 first quarter points.
- Belmont Abbey put together an 11-3 run in the second quarter but it was the Bobcats who took a 26-25 lead into halftime.
- The Crusaders began to pull away in the third quarter with a 13-3 run to close the period. Nation and Hendershott accounted for the first nine points of that run.
- The Abbey scored the first 10 points of the fourth quarter and held the Bobcats scoreless for nearly the first six minutes of the period.
- Riley James added eight points and had a blocked shot for The Abbey.
- The Crusaders finished with a season-best 17 steals on the night.
- Belmont Abbey also got to the free throw line often, finishing 22 of 28 from the charity stripe. The 28 free throw attempts is a season-high while the 22 makes matched the season-high the Crusaders had against Barton back on December 3.
- The Crusaders had a 38-24 rebounding advantage over the Bobcats. After Crain, Janiah Shular added eight boards to help lead the team.
- Belmont Abbey held an opponent to 50 points or fewer for the fifth straight game.
UP NEXT
- The Crusaders return home to host Erskine at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Wheeler Center.
- Following that contest, Belmont Abbey will play its next three games on the road starting Monday, January 22 at Mount Olive.