Lady Eagles Slip By Lady Rams

MOBILE, Ala-- The Faulkner University Lady Eagles used a 20-7 free throw advantage in the final half to hand the University of Mobile its first home loss of the season, 86-81 in SSAC West play Saturday afternoon.

Mobile (12-6, 3-2) will visit Loyola University Thursday, Feb. 3 at 5:30 pm, while Faulkner improves to 16-5 overall and 3-2 in the division. Belhaven is in the top spot with a 5-1 conference mark.

Adrienne Mackay led Mobile with 23 points and 10 rebounds on 9-of-13 shooting from the floor, while Anna Maddox and Alyssa Lane each chipped in 16 points. Morgan Melancon hit 4-of-9 from 3-point range to tally 13 points, while Alice Honnery finished with 8 points, 10 rebounds, 6 assists and 5 blocks. Kelsie Ruff dished out 7 assists for Mobile.

Brittney Carter led Faulkner with 23 points and 16 boards, and Vittoria Poole tallied 17 points on 13-of-16 shooting from the charity stripe.

For the game, Mobile shot 45% from the floor and 54% (17-32) from the free throw line, while Faulkner hit 45% overall and 69% (25-36) from the charity stripe. They went 20-of-27 from the free throw line in the second half, while Mobile hit only 7-of-15.

Mobile scored the first five points in the opening 20 minutes and never trailed in the first half, leading by as many as 13 at 38-25 with 3:45 left. In that half, Mobile got 10 points apiece from Maddox and Lane, and Faulkner only made 9 trips to the free throw line.

The Lady Rams maintained that lead through the first 8:48 of the second half until a pair of free throws from Poole gave Faulkner its first lead of the game, 62-62 with 11:12 left. The teams traded shots over the next 5 minutes until things were all squared at 71-71 with 6:21 to go. Faulkner took off from there with an 11-3 run to take an 82-74 lead with 2:25 left thanks to a 3-point play from M.C. Bell. Carter and Bell had two buckets apiece in that run. From there, Mobile could get no closer than 4 points.