Converse College Pulls Out First Win Of The Season vs. Limestone College
Basketball
Head Coach Beth Coil said it best as she watched from the bench Friday night and saw her team suffer its first defeat of the season vs. St. Andrews Presbyterian College 102-68. And with only 7 healthy players to fill out jerseys, her statement could not be more true.
“It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it the size of the fight in the dog!” said Coil.
And today, her All-Stars proved to be fighters as they took down Limestone College 86-83 with junior guard and All-Tournament selection Melissa Ballard leading all-scorers with 25 points. With the win, Converse improves their record to 1-1 overall. Ballard, who saw 31 minutes of play, went 9-of-10 from the free throw line and hit 7-of-14 from the field.
“She (Ballard) really came up big for us and sometimes I really don’t know how she does it,” said Coil. “She has such fight in her for her size!”
At half time the All-Stars led 46-34 shooting 89.5 percent from free throw range and 41.2 percent from the field. At the close of the game, the numbers held just as strong with 77.5 and 43.3 percent respectively.
The All-Stars placed 4 players in double digits with Katie Leonard (17), Kristi Faris (14), Lindsey Parker (18), and Ballard.
With 2 minutes left to play in regulation, the Knights made an impressive comeback, but with any chance of winning, had to foul Converse to get the ball back. Faris found herself at the line and hit both free throws. At 9 seconds, she was sent back to the line connecting on 1-of-2 shots and that was enough to put the All-Stars ahead for the game.
All-tournament selection Shell Lowrence and her 21 points, 18 rebounds and 3 steals led Limestone.
Limestone hit just 13-of-23 of their free throws, but out rebounded Converse 54-32