FREDERICK, Md.--Junior Dyanna Prater of the Hood College women's basketball team (3-8) led all scorers with a career-high 25 points to lead the Blazers to their first win in their new home, BB&T Arena, over the visiting Washington Adventist University Lady Shock (3-6) by a margin of 67-55 Monday evening.
Prater connected on 8-of-10 from the field and 9-of-15 from the charity stripe on the night in addition to contributing six assists, five rebounds and four steals.
Both teams were plagued by turnovers throughout the game, but the Blazers made some adjustments at intermission and managed to cut their miscue total in half in the second stanza. In fact, Hood netted 30 points off 29 Lady Shock turnovers on the night.
After a back-and-forth exchange during the opening few minutes, Emily Maerz gave the Blazers a lead they would not surrender at the 13-minute mark with a jumper off an assist by Prater to make it 9-7. Hood then forced five straight turnovers by Washington Adventist but was only able to stretch the advantage to six over the next three minutes. Later, strong interior play by the Blazers translated into a 10-point edge following three consecutive layups by Prater and Briana Lee and a three-point play by Rachel Wiley to make it 30-19 Hood with 2:32 left before halftime. A triple by Heather Boyce in the final minute sent the Blazers into the locker room with a 35-28 edge.
Washington Adventist notched six of the first eight points of the second half to trim the deficit to just three, but Boyce responded with her second trey of the game on Hood's next trip and the Lady Shock got no closer the rest of the way.
Hood got 24 points off the bench from Maerz (14) and Lee (10) while Boyce also finished with 10 points. Wiley, who played all 40 minutes of the matchup, hauled in a game-high 16 boards and blocked five shots while Jessica Talley chipped in four points, five rebounds, three assists and a pair of steals.
WAU won the rebounding battle, 49-35, including 20-5 on the offensive end, while Margo Douglas paced the Lady Shock with 18 points and 10 rebounds.
Hood looks to make it three in a row when it welcomes Stevenson University to BB&T Arena for a Capital Athletic Conference game at 6 p.m.