Box Score

SALISBURY, NC – The Livingstone women's basketball team dropped its first home contest of the season Monday as the Winston-Salem State University Rams came into Trent Gymnasium and defeated the Blue Bears 83-74.

The Rams and Blue Bears battled back and forth for the full 40 minutes with the score being tied eight times and the lead changing hands 16 times.  The first half was fairly low-scoring and Winston-Salem held a 12-6 lead with 13:13 left in the first half.  Livingstone responded with an 11-4 run to take its first lead of the contest, 17-16, with 8:25 remaining.

Winston-Salem jumped back with a 7-0 run of its own to take a 23-17 lead with 5:41 on the clock.  Yet another run by the Blue Bears gave them a 25-24 lead with 3:48 remaining and over the final three minutes the teams traded leads.  With 33 seconds left, the Rams converted two free-throw attempts to take a 28-27 lead into the break.

The teams were almost dead even on the stat sheet in the first half.  Both teams connected on 11-of-34 shot attempts from the field and each hit three long-range attempts.  Livingstone was 2-of-3 from the free-throw line while Winston was 3-of-4.

Neither team was able to pull away through the majority of the second half.  Through the first 10 minutes of the second half neither team amassed more than a four-point lead.  The two teams were again tied at 58-58 with 7:50 remaining before the Rams went on a 9-2 run to grab a seven-point cushion with 5:56 left.

Livingstone got within four points with 1:41 left and got the defensive stop they needed on the Rams, but couldn't get the defensive board on two separate occasions.  After the second offensive rebound by Winston, the Rams were fouled and went to the charity stripe.  The Rams converted seven of eight free-throw attempts over the final 1:22 to solidify the victory.

Rashida Elbourne led four Blue Bears in double-figure scoring with 16 points and also had five rebounds.  Montiya Harrison and Tiffany Evans each added 12 points while Kelcyn Manurs scored 10 points.  Brittany Wright fell just short of a double-double as she had nine points and 10 rebounds.

The Blue Bears shot 37.3 percent form the floor including 30 percent from three-point range but only 65.2 percent from the free-throw line.  Winston-Salem had a hot-shooting second half as it hit 52.6 percent and 43.1 percent for the game.

The Blue Bears fell to 14-7 overall, 8-5 in the conference and 3-4 in the Southern Division with the loss.  Winston-Salem improved to 15-8 overall, 10-4 in the CIAA and 5-2 in the division with the victory.

Livingstone will stay at home for an inter-division contest Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. against the Panthers of Virginia Union University.