[Women's Basketball] Balanced Effort Propels Women's Basketball to Victory over Tigers

MONTREAT, N.C.— The Montreat College women's basketball squad utilized a total team effort to defeat the Brenau University Tigers by a score of 75-61 Saturday night. With the triumph, the Cavs improved to 6-5 (5-4 AAC) on the season.

Early in the contest, a 7-0 run provided the Cavs with a quick advantage over the Tigers. Montreat kept Brenau off the scoreboard for the first 3:50 of the competition, helping the Cavs establish an 18-4 lead in the opening quarter. Points by seven different Montreat players, including all eight of Caleigh Raby's points, allowed the home team to jump out to a 21-10 advantage at the end of the first frame.

Brenau (6-6, 3-5 AAC) began to mount a comeback over the next two quarters, shooting 71.4% (5-7) from behind the arc in the second period, but Jessyka Leak (14) and Taylor Cullen (10) each notched double-digits in the second to keep the Cavs ahead going into the break, 39-32. Leak finished with a game-high 18 points and 10 rebounds, as she collected her first double-double of the year.

The Tigers, who had not led for the entirety of the match, then stormed back to go up 48-47 with 5:06 remaining in the third thanks to another hot shooting performance from three in the period (3-5); however, big 3-pointers down the stretch of the third by Hope Ramsey helped the Cavs to regain a five-point lead with just 10 minutes to play.

Ramsey's buckets contributed to the best 3-point shooting game of the season for the team (50.0%) as the Cavaliers also tied their top mark for made threes in a competition all year (10).

Despite a comeback attempt by Brenau, Montreat closed out the game late. The Cavs utilized a strong defensive performance in the final quarter to win the Appalachian Athletic Conference contest by 14. Montreat held Brenau to only 3-16 FG (18.8%) in the fourth period and capitalized from the free-throw line (8-8) to capture its fifth conference win of the 2019-2020 campaign.

Cullen ended the afternoon with a season-high 17 points, while Mariya Williams and Zharia Brown each joined Raby with eight. Williams also added nine rebounds.

Up Next: The Cavaliers will face St. Andrews University on Wednesday looking to extend their AAC winning streak to three games. Tipoff in Laurinburg is scheduled for 12 p.m. ET.