Falcons Dodge Blue Knight Surge in Final Quarter

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FAIRMONT, W. Va. -- Urbana scored a season-high 33 points in the fourth quarter and six players reached double digits, but the Blue Knights came up short in Thursday night's 89-84 setback at Fairmont State.

UU (1-12, 1-8 MEC) has now dropped six straight meetings with FSU (6-9, 3-6 MEC) inside Joe Retton Arena, where the Blue Knights are now 1-6 all time. The Falcons lead the series between the two schools, 10-4.

Several Blue Knights shined in the high-scoring affair.

Sophomore guard Sa'Dera Johnson scored a career-high 19 points for the second straight game to lead the Blue Knights. Johnson finished 3 of 5 from the beyond the arc and also registered career-highs in rebounds (5) and assists (5). Freshman Bailey Draughn recorded her first career double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds while junior Sylvia Hudson notched her 25th career double-double with 13 points and 10 boards. Hudson moved into 14th place (1,038 points) on the UU all-time scoring list.

Additionally, senior Erin Morrow continued her hot shooting with a season-high 15 points that included 3 of 4 from three-point range. For the first time in her career, Morrow has scored double digits in three straight games. Freshman Nikki Current and senior Megan Beachy chipped in with 11 points. Beachy snapped out of her recent shooting slump by going 3 of 5 from beyond the arc.

Morrow opened the scoring for UU with a 3-pointer to spark an early run to put the Blue Knights ahead 10-5 in the early minutes of the first quarter. UU started 4 of 4 from three-point range with Morrow knocking down a pair of treys, but the Blue Knights suddenly went cold after holding a 19-17 advantage.

The Falcons closed the opening quarter on a 9-0 run and carried the momentum into the second to go up by as much as 13 when the score swelled to 37-24. After missing 13 consecutive shots during the drought, UU responded to slice the deficit to five when back-to-back layups from Draughn made it 40-35 with under four minutes in the second. The Falcon lead remained single digits at 43-37 heading to the locker rooms for halftime.

In the third, UU trailed by five at the under-five media timeout, 55-50, following Beachy's second trey. Then, the Falcons caught fire again and extended their lead to 65-52 at the end of the quarter. FSU held the Blue Knights scoreless for the final four minutes of the stanza.

UU chipped away and got within three when Hudson was fouled on a layup. She completed the three-point play to make the score 76-73 FSU with under two minutes remaining, but that was as close as it would get.

The Blue Knights shot a season-best 48 percent (10-21) from three-point range while posting an overall mark of 39 percent from the floor (28-71). The Falcons shot nearly 50 percent overall from the field and both teams struggled at the free-throw line with both teams hitting under 70 percent. UU held a slight edge on the glass with a 45-41 rebounding margin.
 
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UU resumes its road trip Saturday with a 2 p.m. tipoff against Shepherd in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. The Blue Knights have dropped the last two matchups against the Rams in Shepherdstown.