HENDERSON — The No. 6 Freed-Hardeman University Lady Lions turned the ball over seven times in the first quarter, but turned things around to defeat the Blue Mountain Christian (Miss.) University Toppers 69-51 in the home opener.
The Lady Lions (2-0) got on the board at 7:47 with a 3-pointer from the hand of
Carissa Curtis, but the guests would go on a seven point run to jump ahead to a 9-3 lead. After trailing by 10,
Alaina Stiles connected for a triple to end the quarter with FHU trailing 17-10.
Blue Mountain Christian (1-1) continued the fast start by hitting two more 3-pointers to extend their lead to its largest at 14 points with a 25-11 advantage. FHU's defense took hold by forcing the Toppers to just 1-8 from the floor in the final five minutes of the half. Meanwhile, the Satterly sisters vaulted the Lady Lions with
Rachel Satterly scoring five points before
Jenna Satterly tallied four including a layup with 41 seconds left in the half to knot the game 29-29.
Brooklyn Crouch's 3-pointer in the final seconds gave FHU their first lead to go into intermission up 32-29.
Five quick points from BMCU flipped the lead back their way before three different five-point swings helped push the Lady Lions ahead. R. Satterly would tally two more long balls to give FHU a 49-42 lead moving into the fourth quarter.
FHU's conditioning was apparent in the final frame with FHU out-scoring the Toppers 20-9. J. Satterly had two fast break layups before Stiles tacked on seven straight points including the rare four-point play. R. Satterly put the icing on the proverbial cake with a 3-pointer and a fast break layup to end the home opener with a 69-51 victory.
The Lady Lion bench shone with 34 points to the Toppers' four. FHU dished out 16 assists to BMCU's six.
With five different Lady Lions in double figures,
Rachel Satterly led all scorers with 16 points.
Jenna Satterly was not far behind with 14 points while
Carissa Curtis' four 3-pointers gave her 12 points.
Lilly Kee and
Alaina Stiles each chipped in with 10 points.
Ally Weathers led FHU at the glass with nine rebounds with
Brooklyn Crouch leading the team with five helpers.
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Up Next
Freed-Hardeman will spend Halloween in St. Louis where they will face St. Thomas (Fla.) University on October 31 before battling host UHSP (Mo.) on November 1 at the UHSP Classic.
The Lady Lions return to the Brewer Sports Center for Homecoming against Bryan (Tenn.) College on November 8 at 2:00 p.m.
