DUE WEST, S.C. — Peyton Nation put together a career night for the No. 23/24 Belmont Abbey women's basketball team and two others scored in double figures as the Crusaders earned a 72-42 victory over Erskine Tuesday evening at Belk Arena.
Nation matched her career-high with 21 points scoring, 16 of those coming after halftime, to go with a new single-game best 20 rebounds. She is the first player in Conference Carolinas to record a 20-rebound game this season.
Abigail Crain finished with a game-high 22 points to go with five rebounds, three steals and two assists. Additionally,
Janiah Shular added a season-high 12 points off the bench to go with five rebounds.
With Tuesday's results, Belmont Abbey improves to 17-3 overall and 11-1 in Conference Carolinas play. Erskine falls to 4-14 overall and 2-10 in the league.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Nation got the Crusaders on the board early in the quarter but it was Erskine who jumped out to an early 10-2 run.
- The Crusaders responded with a 9-0 run to close the quarter.
- After Erskine got back within two points at 20-18, the Abbey pushed the lead up to double figures thanks to an 11-1 run. Crain led the Crusaders with 15 points in the first half.
- Belmont Abbey picked up where it left off in the second half with a 7-0 run to start to the half with two baskets from Shular and a 3-pointer from Cate Schieber.
- The Crusaders extended the lead with another 7-0 run in the fourth quarter as Belmont Abbey's largest lead in the contest was 33 points.
- The Abbey had 16 assists, eight coming from Riley James. She added six points, four rebounds two steals and a blocked shot.
- Belmont Abbey outrebounded Erskine 40-25 in the contest.
- The Crusaders finished the game shooting 50.8 percent from the field. It is the fifth time this season that the team has finished better than 50 percent shooting in a game.
- Belmont Abbey finished with 38 points in the paint and 21 points off turnovers in the game compared to 12 and 9, respectively, for Erskine.
RANKINGS UPDATE
- The Belmont Abbey women's basketball team stayed in the Top 25 in both the D2CSC and WBCA Polls at No. 23 and 24, respectively.
UP NEXT
- Belmont Abbey returns home for a pivotal Conference Carolinas contest against Francis Marion at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Wheeler Center.
- The Crusaders and Patriots are ranked No. 3 and No. 6 in the Southeast region, respectively.