MARS HILL, N.C.- The Queens University of Charlotte Royals played a close game with the Lions of Mars Hill College that ended with a score of 80-75 in favor of the Lions. The Royals fall to 1-2 on the season while Mars Hill improves to 4-1 on the year.
Jessica Lewis (Hampton, Va., Bethel) led Queens with 22 points, scoring 18 in the first half. Dyonna Battle (Rocky Mount, N.C., Rocky Mount) netted 13 points before fouling out of the game with 5:52 left to play. Marissa Hudley (Charlotte, N.C., Harding University ) continues to average a double-double this season scoring 11 points and snatching down 13 rebounds. Melissa Thomas (Havelock, N.C., Havelock) pulled down a career high nine rebounds to go along with her six points, four assists, and three steals.
Mars Hill was led by Brittani Young's 27 points and six rebounds. Kristen Metcalf contributed 14. Taylor Deal and Jocelyn Williams scored 11 and 10, respectively.
The difference in the tonight's tight game came in the Lions ability to convert turnovers in to points. Mars Hill scored 19 points off of the Royals' 21 turnovers. The Lions also had 27 points scored off the bench compared to Queens'18.
After Mars Hill jumped out to an early lead holding Queens to two points for almost four minutes, the Royals battled back tying the game up at 12 on an and one opportunity by Tyffani Major (Raleigh, N.C., Broughton). Major missed the free-throw which was snagged by Battle. Erin Goldner (Matthews, N.C., Piedmont) put the Royals up by two with a put-back on the possession.
Queens went up by as much as four before the home team came back re-controlling the lead at 9:44 on a fast break lay-up by Deal. The Lions led by three, 39-36, going in to halftime.
The Royals trailed the Lions by as much as 11 points before chipping away at the difference in the second half of play. A jumper by Battle began a 10-0 run that eventually gave the Royals a one point lead, 56-55, with 11:01 on the clock. Mars Hill's Williams immediately responded with a bucket of her own putting the Lions back up by one, 57-56.
The game would go back and forth for the remainder of the half which saw a total of eight lead changes. Queens' last lead was at 69-68 with 4:37 on the clock when Thomas netted two free-throws. A three-pointer by Metcalf would put the Lions up for good.
Head Coach Cheryl Nix was looking towards the future after the game saying, "we fought really hard and can take good things from it to build on."
The Royals scored 22 points in the paint to Mars Hill's 12 tonight, and also led in rebounds with 50 compared to 47 grabbed by the Lions.
The Royals will have a short holiday break before traveling across town to face Johnson C. Smith for the second time this season on November 30th at 5:30 p.m. The Golden Bulls won the first match-up 62-54 at The Oven.
