Final Stats

SALISBURY, NC – The Livingstone women's basketball team had a woeful shooting night Wednesday as the Blue Bears fell 60-50 to the Belmont Abbey Crusaders in their home opener.

Livingstone took the first two points of the game, but that was the only lead it had all game.  Despite only holding the one lead, the Blue Bears continued to find ways to keep the game close. 

Belmont Abbey took its first lead at 3:39 of the first half and extended it to eight with just over 13 minutes left in the first half.  The Blue Bears got the deficit down to five, but the Crusaders increased their lead back to eight with 5:29 left in the half.  Livingstone was able to get within three with 33 seconds left, but Belmont Abbey hit a jumper at the buzzer take a 22-17 lead into the half.

The Crusaders knocked down a three-pointer to start the second half to go up by eight, but Livingstone responded with a 7-0 run to get within one with 17:42 left in the contest.  The Livingstone momentum was quickly stopped by Belmont Abbey as the Crusaders responded with a 6-0 run to go back up by seven. 

Livingstone was able to get back within five with 8:39 remaining, but an 8-0 run by Belmont Abbey put the game out of reach of Livingstone down the stretch as the Crusaders won 60-50.

Junior forward Jasmine Murray led the Blue Bears with 14 points and grabbed six rebounds.  Tiffany Evans and Kelcyn Manurs each added eight points while Cierra York led the team with seven boards.

The Blue Bears struggled from the field, connecting on only 26.8 percent of their shots from the floor and only 12.5 percent from beyond the three-point line.  Free-throw shooting was a struggle as well as Livingstone went only 18-for-31 from the charity stripe.

With the loss the Blue Bears fell to 1-2 overall on the season while Belmont Abbey improved to 1-1.

Livingstone will return to action on Friday at the Johnson C. Smith Invitational in Charlotte, NC.  The Blue Bears will face Tuskegee on Friday at noon.