CHARLOTTE, N.C.- The Royals women's basketball team is now .500 while on the road against conference opponents after suffering a 66-60 loss to Limestone College Thursday night in Gaffney, S.C. Overall Queens is 3-5 on the road, but 3-3 against Conference Carolinas teams.
The loss is the second to the Saints (9-8/7-5 CC) this season. Queens (9-8/8-4) hosted Limestone on Nov. 24 and lost by just two points, 67-65.
Though Limestone held the advantage from the opening bucket, Queens was within single-digits of the Saints until the 5:09 mark when they took an 11 point lead. Queens cut the lead down to seven at the half, 34-27.
To start the second half Queens added 10 while limiting Limestone to nine before there was a three-minute scoring draught. Both teams hit a basket to break the scoreless time, but then again it was another three minutes without any baskets.
With 2:50 to play the Royals trailed by 10, but kept pushing for the lead. Points from Jessica Lewis (Hampton, Va., Bethel) and Jacquia Winstead (Elm City, N.C., Beddingfield) in the forms of both field goals and free throws answered any buckets Limestone made and when Winstead converted a steal until a made bucket the Royals were within five. In the end Queens ran out of time and the Saints made free throws when Queens sent them to the line.
Queens had three players in double figured in the contest. Marissa Hudley (Charlotte, N.C., Harding University ) led the team with 17 points and completed the double-double with 11 rebounds. Lewis scored 11 and Koko Hamlin chipped in 10 points and missed the double-double by one rebound.
Limestone's Ashley Robinson scored 16 while Tia Williams and Lauren Pace each had 15 and 14 points, respectively.
The Royals had one more rebound, 44-43, than Limestone, but dominated in second-chance points. Queens converted to score 14 while only allowing Limestone to score two second-chance points.
The game marks the first in the second half conference play and right now there is a log jam near the top of the conference standings. Barton and Pfeiffer hold the top two spots, but Belmont Abbey, Mount Olive, Anderson and Queens are all tied for the next spot. Queens has faced all of the teams it is currently tied with once and will have one more game against each in the remaining 11 games.
The Royals face Pfeiffer on Saturday in Misenheimer, N.C. In their last meeting on Jan. 16 the Royals defeated the Falcons 79-54.
