February 7, 2006
Lady Monarchs make it two straight with 67-58 victory at Averett
Whitehurst scores 13 points off the bench for Methodist

DANVILLE, Va. – Road victories are important in terms of winning the USA South Athletic Conference, and the Methodist Lady Monarchs continued to be “Road Warriors” on Tuesday night. The Monarchs made it two straight victories with a 67-58 decision at Averett in the Grant Center.

Methodist (11-9, 6-4) has now won three of its last four games.

The Lady Monarchs shot 56 percent from the field in the first half, including 67 percent from 3-point range in the first half. In addition, Methodist limited Averett to 25 percent shooting from the field in the opening stanza.

Methodist raced out to a quick 10-point lead on consecutive 3-point baskets by Ann Forsberg and Zan Messer. Later, back-to-back lay-ups by Stacy Williams increased the Methodist lead to 36-18 with 4:25 remaining. Antionett Holliday’s jumper at the 1:02 mark gave the Lady Monarchs a 38-23 lead at halftime.

The Lady Monarchs kept up the intensity in the second half. Two free throws by Messer made the Methodist lead 52-32 with 12:51 remaining, and a Forsberg jump shot increased the Lady Monarch lead to 55-32 at the 12:13 mark. A jump shot by Geya Norwood-Shaw gave Methodist its largest lead, 57-34 with 9:41 remaining.

That’s when Averett made a game of it in the final eight minutes. The Cougars answered with a 10-0 run to trim the lead to 57-44 with 6:21 remaining. A 3-point basket by Samantha Powell cut the Lady Monarch lead to 65-58 with 1:14 remaining, but that was as close as the Cougars would get.

Freshman forward Kristen Whitehurst scored 13 points on 4-for-5 shooting from the field for the Lady Monarchs, while Holliday scored 12 points and Williams scored 10 points. For the game, Methodist shot 50 percent from the field, including 50 percent from 3-point range.

For Averett (10-11, 4-6), Kristen Kozar scored 13 points off the bench, and Sheets scored 10 points off the bench.

Methodist is home on Thursday at 7 p.m. for a key USA South showdown against Peace at the Riddle Center.