YOUNG HARRIS, Ga. – In their first action of 2016, Clayton State (9-1, 3-0 PBC) showed no rust from the two week layoff for the holidays as they delivered a 66-58 victory at Young Harris (7-3, 2-1 PBC) in an NCAA Division II women's basketball game on Saturday, January 2.
 
Senior guard Kenisha Jones-Barrett (Winter Haven, Fla.) led the way with a team-high 15 points along with four rebounds, three assists and a pair of steals while redshirt-junior center Andrea Benford (Madison, Ga.) finished with 10 points and six rebounds. Redshirt-junior guard Tierra Johnson (Edison, N.J.) added 12 points on 6-of-8 shooting and senior center DaQuenna Moore (Plantersville, Ga.) rounded out the top performers with seven points and four boards.
 
A low scoring first quarter would see the Lakers take a 4-0 lead just under two minutes in before YHC answered back with eight straight points from Briana Bell, including back-to-back triples, for an 8-4 lead by the 6:18 mark.
 
Junior guard Dejoun Dennard (Seffner, Fla.) answered that run with a three of her own to cut it to one but four points from the Mountain Lions would give them a 12-7 advantage with 4:17 left. A 5-0 burst by redshirt-senior forward Jessica Covington (Tifton, Ga.) then knotted the game at 12-12 two minutes later before YHC took a 15-12 lead to the second quarter.
 
With the score at 17-14 at the 8:16 mark, Clayton State would take control of the game as they powered out to a 29-19 lead behind a commanding 15-2 run. During that span of 5:31, the Lakers used five different scorers to build that lead with six points coming from Johnson. YHC would then respond with an 8-0 burst to end the half and cut it to 29-26 at the break.
 
Back-to-back buckets by the Lakers to open the second half stretched their lead to 33-26 just under three minutes in before the Mountain Lions cut it to 35-30 by the 6:27 mark. It would shape up to be a game of runs as Clayton State pushed back out to a double-digit advantage at 40-30 but YHC would draw to within five at 40-35 with 2:55 left in the third.
 
Another stretch of five different scorers over that final 2:55 keyed another Lakers run as they scored 10 of the next 14 points to head to the fourth with a 50-39 margin. Not much would change over the final 10 minutes of the game as Clayton State extended to a 15 point lead at one point before closing out the 66-58 victory following a too late run by the Mountain Lions.
 
Bell led YHC with a game-high 20 points and four assists while Sarah Garner had 10 points and four rebounds. Jenny Vernet and Meredith Tarver each finished with eight points and five rebounds as the only other players near double-digits in scoring.
 
The Lakers return to action on Monday, January 4 when they host Montevallo. Tip-off is set for 5:30 p.m. at The Loch.