ROME, Ga. – A pair of runs better than 20 points each fueled a commanding 81-43 Clayton State (3-2, 0-0 PBC) victory over Shorter (1-4, 0-0 GSC) in an NCAA Division II women's basketball game on Tuesday, November 27.
 
Redshirt-senior guard Monica Alexander (Richmond, Va.) led four double-figure scorers with 13 points to go with three steals while junior guard Taneria Wilson (Fort Pierce, Fla.) finished with 12 points, three boards and a pair of assists.
 
Joining them were redshirt-senior center Shaquoria Miles (Garysburg, N.C.) with 10 points, one shy of her career-high, and four rebounds and senior center Aleisha Merriweather (Augusta, Ga.) with 10 points. Junior forward Kelsie Towns (Butler, Ga.) chipped in with a career-best eight points and senior forward Velencia Johnson (Hoover, Ala.) had a team-high five caroms.
 
While neither team could get it going over the first minute and a half, that would change quickly as an old fashioned three-point play gave the Hawks a 3-0 lead at the 8:35 mark. It would be a short-lived lead as back-to-back buckets by Wilson, a triple from Alexander and a pair of scores from Merriweather fueled a 14-3 run that made it 14-6 just four minutes later.
 
Shorter would answer with a run of their own, this one a 9-0 burst in a span of just over two minutes, to flip the script and pull ahead 15-14 with 2:02 left in the frame. It would, however, be their last points of the opening stanza as the Lakers scored the final five points in that period and the first six in the second period to retake the lead, 26-15, behind an impressive 11-0 run.
 
It wouldn't get any better for the Hawks as that would extend into a 20-3 stretch and a 34-18 advantage with 5:06 left in the half. The final five minutes would be only slightly kinder as SU managed five of the final nine points to go to the break with the score at 38-23. Overall, Clayton State put together a 24-8 run over 12 minutes to close the half.
 
A long ball from Alexander to start the third made it a 27-8 spread and an 18 point margin before two more jumpers, sandwiched around a Raven Fair three, pushed the Laker lead to 45-26 with 5:43 on the clock. Shorter would close to within 14 points, 45-31, two minutes later before Clayton State closed the period with a 54-37 lead.
 
After not having a quarter that they had been accustomed to over the first 20 minutes, the Lakers left no doubt who was the better team at the start of the fourth. Over the first 3:47 of that frame they would score 16 straight points to barrel out to a 70-37 bulge.
 
That stretch would be fueled by eight points from Towns and featured not only no makes by Shorter, but only one field goal attempt and six turnovers. That would eventually grow to a 75-38 lead as the run reached 21-1 before Clayton State wrapped up the dominant 81-43 victory.
 
Tatum Ragsdale was the lone double-digit scorer for the Hawks, finishing with 10 points and three rebounds while Jasmine Gaines had nine points, going 7-of-10 from the foul line. Bobbi Wardwell added seven points and Fair had four points and a team-high four boards to round out the top performers.
 
The Lakers continue their road trip but will do so in St. Augustine, Florida with the opening of Peach Belt Conference play at Flagler on Saturday, December 1. Tip-off is set for 1:30 p.m.
 
NOTES
With the victory, Clayton State has now knotted up the all-time series with the Hawks at 8-8 … the series dates to the very first season of Laker women's basketball in 1991-92 and was resumed last year after a 19-year hiatus.