The Covenant College women's volleyball team played its final of three home games to start the season on Wednesday night, welcoming Sewanee to Barnes P.E. Center. It was a tight game all the way, but ultimately a strong finish for the Tigers propelled them to a 72-64 defeat of the Scots.
Covenant raced out to a 6-0 lead behind two baskets from Lucy Benson and an inside basket from Amanda Neff. Sewanee slowly crawled its way back to tie the game at six with 4:43 remaining.
An old-fashioned 3-point play by Cair Canady capped off an 8-0 run for Covenant to put it in front 14-6.
A late 3-pointer by the Tigers followed by one made free throw from Breezy Savage put the score at 17-13 after 10 minutes.
The Tigers scored seven of the first nine points of the second quarter to open up a 22-19 lead.
A pair of baskets from Ora Hall kept Covenant within one point with 2:17 remaining.
Savage made the last shot of the quarter with 1:53 left to put the score at 26-25, Sewanee.
An inside basket from Amanda Neff followed by a pair of made shots from Hannah Eidson put Covenant back in front 31-29 to begin the third quarter. The Scots went scoreless for just over four minutes which allowed the Tigers to jump back ahead 35-31. A 3-pointer by Breezy Savage capped off a 9-0 run for Covenant to end the quarter up 42-40 after Sewanee had extended its lead to seven points.
Hall continued to be aggressive offensively as a basket plus the foul put Covenant up 45-42 in the opening minute of the fourth quarter. Sewanee took back the lead before a 3-pointer by Hall and a layup by Benson put Covenant on top 60-57 with 3:30 remaining. Sewanee hit 3-pointers on its next two possessions to take the lead back for good. Benson scored with 1:55 remaining to get Covenant within one point, but that was its final points of the day as Sewanee scored the final seven points of the night, four of which came at the free throw line.
Covenant moves to 20-19 all-time against Sewanee. Hall, the defending CCS Rookie of the Week, led the Scots with 15 points. Benson also had success offensively, scoring 14 points on 7-of-14 shooting. Witt scored eight points and grabbed a team-high seven rebounds.
Covenant was 36.6% (26-71) from the field and 12.5% (3-24) from behind the 3-point line while Sewanee was 44.1% (26-59) and 33.3% (6-18) in the same categories. The Tigers had a big advantage at the free throw line, shooting 93.3% (14-15) while the Scots were 56.3% (9-16) shooting free throws.
Covenant travels to Welch College on Thursday, November 21st.