Wednesday,
January 21, 2004
Jones
& Ferris Lead Lions to Victory
MARS HILL, NC – The Lions gained an important South Atlantic Conference win over the Blue Hose of Presbyterian in Stanford Arena by a score of 63-56. Mars Hill improves to 14-9 overall and 7-4 in the conference. Presbyterian falls to 8-16 overall and 3-8 in the conference with the loss.
In what could be considered an ugly game, both the Lions and the Blue Hose were lass than hot to start the evening. The Lions went over five minutes with out scoring until Abby DeBusk (New Tazewell, TN) hit a pair of free throws with 14:53 on the clock in the first half. Mars Hill was 0-17 from the floor before Lindsey Jones (Crossville, TN) hit a three with 13:04 on the clock to make the score 8-5 in favor of the Blue Hose. Both teams struggled from the field in the first half of play. Mars Hill was 9-26 for 34.6% while Presbyterian was 12-38 for 31.6%. The Lions held to a slight 29-27 halftime advantage.
Mars Hill shot better in the second half going 10-19 for 52.6% while Presbyterian continued their cold shooting ways going 10-30 for 33.3%. Jones led the Lions with 17 points while Kristi Ferris (Knoxville, TN) added 16 points and eight rebounds. Mars Hill won the battle of the boards as they out rebounded the Blue Hose 46-32. Crystal Davis (Crossville, TN) and Lindsay Roberts (Murphy, NC) had seven rebounds each for the Lions. Davis also had 10 points for the Lions to give them three double figure scorers. Dana Birnie (Suwanee, GA) paced Presbyterian with 18 points and ten rebounds. Billie Haskins (Greensboro, GA) scored 13 points and had five steals for the Blue Hose.
In the win, the score was tied seven times and the lead changed hands 11 times. Even with the Mars Hill victory, Presbyterian won the battles of points in the paint 26-20, points off turnovers 20-15, and second chance points 13-3. The Mars Hill bench outscored Presbyterian’s 11-7.
The Lions will return to action on Saturday when they host Wingate at 2:00 pm. Presbyterian will return home to host Lenoir-Rhyne in a 2:00 pm game.