The Covenant women's basketball team snapped a four-game losing streak with a dominating fourth period that erased a deficit and propelled the Scots to a 68-64 win at Huntingdon on Saturday afternoon.
Covenant (8-14, 5-9 USA South) trailed 49-42 heading into the fourth, but the Scots outscored the host Hawks 26-15 in the final stanza to pull out the victory and earn a season sweep of Huntingdon. Jessica Bell scored eight points in the quarter while as a team Covenant shot 60 percent from the floor and 6-of-8 from the free throw line.
Even with those numbers, Covenant still trailed by 11 with six minutes remaining. The Scots scored 10 straight, capped by a Bell layup, to cut the deficit to one at 58-57 with 3:04 left. Huntingdon upped its lead to five with two minutes left, but a Joanna Smith three-point play followed by another Bell layup knotted the score at 64 with 52 seconds left.
After Covenant forced a Hawk turnover, Bell made one of two at the free throw line giving the Scots a 65-64 edge. The Scots got the ball back after Bell missed the second free throw and Rachel Price's layup with 31 ticks left made it 67-64. Mackenzie Garmany's 3-pointer missed and Covenant gathered the rebound to seal the win.
Smith led the Scots with 16 points with six rebounds and two assists for Covenant, while Aleigha Williams and Bell had 12 points and seven rebounds apiece. Price added nine points and Hallmark seven points and seven rebounds.
Covenant shot 41.7 percent (25-of-60) from the field while Huntingdon connected on 38.3 percent (23-of-60).
Juliette Harp led Huntingdon (9-11, 4-9 USA South) with 13 points and eight rebounds. Garmany, Savannah Ward and Deven Still had nine points each for the Hawks.
Covenant will travel to Mars Hill, N.C., on Tuesday night for a makeup game against Meredith. Tip-off at Mars Hill University is set for 8:15 p.m.
In the men's game, Ben Phelps scored a career-high 21 points and Daniel Garrett registered his first career double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Covenant team to an 85-55 rout of Huntingdon.
Phelps and Garrett scored 32 of Covenant's 55 bench points as the balanced scoring attack set the tone in the victory. Covenant (14-9, 9-4 USA South) sweeps the season series from Huntingdon, while remaining in the top tier of the USA South standings heading into the final week of play.
TJ Cox added 13 points and four assists in the win. Covenant shot 43.3 percent (29-of-67) from the field with a season-high 15 3-pointers. Huntingdon shot just 38.9 percent (21-of-54) from the floor and turned the ball over 24 times.
Covenant led from the start as it started the game on a 10-2 run that was finished off with a Bailey Spragg layup with 14:18 left in the first. Huntingdon worked its way back and tied the score at 23, but Covenant ended the half on a 14-2 scoring run. Garrett had five points during the run and a Phelps 3-pointer in the final 10 seconds of the half capped the run giving Covenant a 37-25 lead at the half.
Covenant continued to pour it on in the second half. The Scots outscored the Hawks 12-4 in the first seven minutes of the period to take a 49-29 lead after a Garrett layup with 13:18 left. The lead stayed at 20 or above for much of the rest of the game and peaked at 31 after a Nick Palmer 3-pointer with 3:09 left that made it 82-51.
Huntingdon (8-15, 1-11 USA South) was led by 10 points apiece from Andre Ashley and Dantavius Washington.
Covenant also received contributions from Spragg with seven points and three assists, while Chris Boyd tallied seven points and seven rebounds. Z Arima dished out a game-high five assists as Covenant collected 17 assists on 29 made field goals. Palmer and Patjo Twagirayezu added six points each.
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Covenant will have a week off before hosting Maryville on Saturday, Feb. 20. Tip-off is set for 4 p.m. and Senior Day activities will take place beforehand.