CLEANING UP:  Averett uses game-defining run to defeat Meredith

Blood steadily dripped down Nikki Huffman’s hand, from her head to the hardwood, after the Averett University guard’s skull bounced off the floor under the basket.

It was just another on-court mess for the Cougars to clean up.

They’re getting good at it.

The Averett women once again sputtered early, but erased their early deficit and built a double-digit lead while fending off Meredith College 60-49 in a bruising USA South Conference game Thursday night at the Grant Center in Danville. Ashley Washington scored a game-high 21 points and nabbed 11 rebounds for her third consecutive double-double and Averett used an 16-0 first-half run to turn a five-point deficit into a 20-9 advantage.

The win is Averett’s season-best third straight, matching the team’s 3-0 start.

“We pick and choose when we want to play sometimes,” Washington said, “and it’s getting to the point now where when we play, we might go on a little five-minute streak and not play hard but at the end we come out victorious.”

Meredith broke its nearly 8-minute scoreless drought when Megan Rahn, who paced the Avenging Angels with 18 points, hit a pair of free throws. Brittany Cornelius scored 12 points and snatched 10 rebounds for the Angels, but Rahn was the only Meredith (4-7, 0-4) player to record more than two points by halftime, when Averett held a 28-18 advantage.

Averett (6-3, 2-0) allowed Meredith no points off the fast break, no points off second-chance opportunities and only two points off turnovers in the first half while building a lead that grew as large as 13 points.

“They did a nice job on their pressure defense in the first half and it took us out of our game a little bit,” Meredith coach David Zinn said. “I thought once we responded to it we were OK, but you can’t give up 16 straight points to a team like Averett and be able to come back from it very well.”

Meredith used an eight-point run to chop its deficit to five, at 31-26, early in the second half, but the burst was sandwiched by a pair of Taylor Poirier 3-pointers that limited the damage. The Cougars methodically built their lead as large as 17 points, at 55-38, with less than 6 minutes to play.

“During that span when they cut the lead, that was one of those spans where we weren’t playing really hard and we weren’t defending,” Averett coach Katrina Williams said, “and that’s what bothers me is we have a tendency not to work hard defensively. When we work hard defensively I think we’re very good, but
we have to defend every possession of every game.

Poirier hit four 3s, all in the second half, while scoring 13 points. Abby Bailey and Liz Martin added 11 and 10 points, respectively, for the Cougars.

Huffman recorded four points and six rebounds and received a cut above her right eye when a Meredith player fell on top of her midway through the second half. She did not return to action and required stitches after the game.

“I think sometimes people forget,” Williams said, “that basketball actually is a contact sport.”