Lady Pirates Halt Slide With 64-43 Win Over Flagler

SAVANNAH, Ga. - The Armstrong Atlantic State women's basketball squad snapped its six-game losing streak with a 64-43 Peach Belt Conference victory over visiting Flagler on Wednesday evening at Alumni Arena.

The Lady Pirates (7-12, 4-7 PBC) also moved to just a half-game out of fourth place in the PBC East Division standings with the win, while Flagler (6-13, 1-9 PBC) dropped its eighth straight game. The top four teams from each division make the 2010 PBC Championships in March.

A three-point play by freshman Jazmin Walker gave the Lady Pirates a nine-point lead, 26-17, with 5:14 remaining in the first half, but Flagler went on a 9-0 run over the next three and a half minutes, tying the game on a Jalisa Foster layup with 1:38 left in the half. Senior Dartayvia Thomas' basket with 1:18 remaining put the Pirates ahead at the break, 28-26.

The Lady Pirates then began the second half by scoring the first six points and stretched their lead to double digits on an Arpine Amirkhanyan basket with 12:03 left, making the score 42-32. Flagler never got any closer the rest of the way as AASU held the Lady Saints to just seven second-half field goals and just 1-of-10 shooting from three-point range after the break.

Senior Lauren Hall led a quartet of Lady Pirates in double figures with 14 points. Walker added 13 points, while senior Portia Jones chipped in 10. Amirkhanyan added 10 points and 13 rebounds for her fifth double-double of the season.

Flagler's Jalisa Foster led all players with 21 points on 10-of-13 shooting from the floor, to go with a team-high eight rebounds.

The Lady Pirates return to action on Saturday, February 6, as AASU visits nationally-ranked Francis Marion for a 1:30 p.m. contest against the Patriots in Florence, S.C.

Head Coach Matt Schmidt's Post-Game Comments:

On Flagler's late first-half run: "Thank goodness that it came while we were up. It was a two-point game at the half and we talked about the first three minutes of the second half being crucial. We had some sloppy passes and took some bad shots [during that stretch]."

On the effort at the beginning of the second half: "We played smarter basketball at the start of the half. We moved the ball better, got inside touches and rebounded the ball to get easy baskets."

On the free-throw shooting [16-of-19, 84.2%]: "A lot of that is Jazmin Walker. She's played a lot of minutes as a freshman and she has struggled at the line, but she made six of seven tonight."