Box Score
SALISBURY, NC – Brittany Wright scored 28 points to lead the Livingstone women's basketball team to an 88-65 victory over the Virginia Union University Panthers Wednesday night in an inter-divisional contest inside Trent Gymnasium.
The Blue Bears improved to 15-7 overall and 9-5 in the CIAA while Virginia Union fell to 2-19 overall and 2-12 in the conference.
Virginia Union took the first two points of the contest just 21 seconds in, but Brittany Wright scored her first two points of the night only nine seconds late and after the Blue Bears went up 4-2 with 19:14 left, the Panthers never saw the positive side of the score line again. Livingstone held a slim lead of 8-4 with 16:17 left, but then went on a 12-2 run over the next 3:16 to go up 20-6 with 13:01 remaining.
After going up by 14, the Blue Bears went cold from the field for the next 6:01, but the defense held strong holding Virginia Union to only five points in that same span and the Blue Bears continued to lead 20-11 with seven minutes left in the first half. Livingstone extended its lead to as much as 14 points in the first half before Virginia Union fought back to within five with 1:30 left. The Blue Bears converted four free throws in the final minute to bring the lead to nine points at the break, 39-30.
The Blue Bears came out strong in the second half, taking the first 11 points over the opening 2:24 to open up a 20-point cushion. Livingstone was able to maintain its 20-point lead for the majority of the second half and hit its largest lead of the contest of 28 points with 2:53 remaining before taking home the victory.
Livingstone shot 49.2 percent for the game including a blistering 61.5 percent in the second half. The Blue Bears put up only nine three-point attempts for the game, connecting on one and hit only 69 percent of their attempts from the charity stripe. The Blue Bears took full advantage of Virginia Union's 42 turnovers, turning them into 42 points and also forced 22 of them.
The Blue Bears will hit the road Saturday for their final regular-season contest away from home as Livingstone takes on St. Augustine's at 5:30 p.m. in Raleigh, NC.
