MONTEVALLO, Ala. – A pair of late threes and clutch defense keyed a narrow 68-65 Clayton State (17-4, 9-3 PBC) victory at Montevallo (4-16, 1-12 PBC) in an NCAA Division II women's basketball game on Monday, January 30.
 
Senior guard Dejoun Dennard (Tampa, Fla.) produced a career game and came through in the clutch as she produced personal bests of 15 points and four steals to go with five boards. She was joined by redshirt-senior center Andrea Benford (Madison, Ga.) with a double-double of 11 points and 11 rebounds along with a pair of steals.
 
Redshirt-senior guard Tweety Hawkins (Madison, Ga.) finished with 11 points and redshirt-senior forward Ashley Cunningham (Douglasville, Ga.) added nine points and six rebounds to round out the top performers.
 
In a low scoring affair, Clayton State would pull out to a 13-8 margin at the end of the first quarter before UM battled their way back. Trailing 21-18, the Falcon's Ashley Dunstan knocked down a three-pointer to tie the game up before eventually deadlocking again at 29-29 with 1:01 to play in the half. Montevallo then forced a turnover and converted a layup right before the break to take a two point lead into intermission.
 
With the score at 35-31 in the opening minutes of the second half the Lakers would put together an 11-5 run to flip the script and take a 42-40 lead with 3:30 on the clock. From there the teams would battle through a pair of ties and two lead changes as Clayton State headed to the fourth quarter up 46-45.
 
That would be a trend that would continue into the final period as the first four possessions resulted in lead changes, the last giving the Lakers a 50-49 lead. Benford would follow with a traditional three-point play to make it a four point lead before the Falcon's Morgan Smith scored five quick points to give UM a 56-55 advantage at the 7:01 mark.
 
Trailing 60-56 with just under four minutes to play, Clayton State put together a couple of defensive stands and capitalized on threes by Dennard and Hawkins to pull back ahead 62-60 with 1:54 left. The Falcons then converted one of two free throws to cut it to one before a steal and fast break layup by D'Miyah Foster gave them back the lead at 63-62.
 
That margin would be short-lived, however as Dennard struck again, nailing another three for a two point lead with 39.4 seconds to play. Junior guard Monica Alexander (Richmond, Va.) then stole the ensuing inbounds pass and took it the distance for a layup to make it 67-63.
 
UM would make one of two free throws and get one final chance to tie it but could only watch as Smith's long three-point attempt bounced off the rim to lock up a narrow 68-65 victory.
 
Dunstan led four Falcons in double-figures with 17 points and four blocks while Foster finished with 16 points, seven rebounds and three steals. Smith added 13 points and nine boards and Albanellys Perez finished with 10 points and nine caroms, four off of the offensive glass. Jazmin Stubblefield chipped in with five points, eight boards and five assists to cap UM's top performances.
 
The Lakers return home to take on Georgia College on Wednesday, February 1. Game time is set for 5:30 p.m. at The Loch.