Box Score
FAYETTEVILLE, NC – Khalia Boston had a career night Saturday with 25 points as the Livingstone women's basketball team picked up a crucial conference victory, 89-78, on the road over the Fayetteville State University Broncos.
With the victory the Blue Bears improved to 14-6 overall, 8-4 in the conference and 3-3 in the division. Fayetteville State fell to 6-16 overall, 4-9 in the CIAA and 1-5 in the Southern Division.
The Blue Bears had a very slow start, allowing Fayetteville State to jump out to a 9-0 lead in the first 2:32. Rashida Elbourne put up the first two points for Livingstone at 17:17, but the Broncos responded with a three-pointer to go up 12-2 with 16:54 left. Head coach Angelyne Brown had seen enough from her starters and sent a whole new five players out on the floor.
This full line change for the Blue Bears sparked the team. Kaylyn Chatman knocked down a three-pointer to bring the score to 12-5, but the Broncos took their lead back to 18-7 before Livingstone went on a big run keyed by sophomore guard Khalia Boston. Over the next 4:52 of the first half the Blue Bears went on a 16-1 run. Boston got her scoring started, putting up 11 points in this run, giving the Blue Bears a 23-19 lead with 9:15 left.
Fayetteville State got within one point at 24-23 with 7:12 left in the first half, but Livingstone went on a 9-2 run to take a 33-25 lead with 4:45 remaining in the half. The Blue Bears worked to take a 42-32 lead into the break.
Early in the second half the Broncos made a run at the Blue Bears and got within seven points with 17:25 left, but Livingstone weathered the storm. The Blue Bears responded with a 15-6 run and opened up a 62-46 lead with 12:23 left.
Livingstone slowly increased its lead through the middle of the second half and hit its largest cushion of the contest of 30 points with 5:33 left. The Blue Bears needed that big advantage because they scored only one more point over the final five and half minutes of the game. Despite the inability to score of the last stretch, the Blue Bears did just enough to hold on for the victory.
The Blue Bears as a whole had a solid night shooting the ball as Livingstone hit 47.1 percent from the field and 38.1 percent from three-point range. The Blue Bears could have put the game fully out of reach from the charity stripe, but Livingstone converted only 17-of-34 free-throw attempts. Turnovers killed the Broncos as they turned the ball over 31 times, 21 of which were forced by the Blue Bears. Livingstone capitalized with 39 points off of the Bronco turnovers.
Livingstone will return home to Trent Gymnasium, where they are 7-0 this season, on Monday to host the Rams of Winston-Salem State University at 5:30 p.m.
