MORRISTOWN, TN – Walters State battled close with No. 9 Shelton State in their season-opening game on Friday in the Carlyle/Kragel Classic, but the Buccaneers pulled away in the fourth quarter for a 67-51 victory.
With the loss, the Lady Senators dropped to 0-1 on the season.
"That's a good team we played," Walters State coach Jasmin Coleman said. "We did a good job at times but need to work on our consistency and rebounding ability. I thought we did a good job early on both sides of the floor. It's early so we'll keep working at it and get ready to go again at 2 p.m. tomorrow."
The Lady Senators were led in the game by Terryauna Griffin with 16 points and Kyra Perkins with 14 points. Other scorers were Raegan Starks with eight points, Jahliya McDonald with eight points, Anaya Mulholland-Natt with three points and Nyjah Gibbs with two points.
It was a strong start to the game for Perkins, as she scored Walters State's first seven points to give the Lady Senators a 7-6 lead. Two free throws from Griffin made it 9-6, and it was 13-8 after Starks completed an and-one and made another free throw.
The Lady Senators continued to charge, and Griffin scored their final three points of the quarter to give Walters State a 16-13 advantage after the opening 10 minutes.
In the second quarter, Perkins quickly hit a three to get the lead to six. The lead was seven after a Shelton State free throw and McDonald put back, and McDonald scored again to make it 23-16. However, that was when Shelton State came alive as they went on an 11-0 run to take the lead.
Walters State grabbed the lead back at 30-29 with 1:15 to go in the half on a Mullholland-Natt three, but Shelton scored the final four points to take a 33-30 advantage into the locker room.
In the third, Shelton State got their lead to seven but baskets by Gibbs and Perkins cut it to 39-36. Unfortunately for the Lady Senators, they would score just two more times in the quarter, on a free throw from Perkins and a basket by McDonald, and trailed 47-39 going to the fourth.
The fourth saw the Shelton State offense explode for 20 points, while Walters State scored 12. Griffin had nine of the Lady Senators points in the final 10 minutes.
Up Next:
Walters State will be back in action on Saturday for their final game of the Carlyle/Kragel Classic. The Lady Senators will play Florida Southwestern at 2 p.m.
