Eutectics end win-less start; prevail in battle with Pioneers

PARAGOULD, AR – This one had to have a sense of "finally" for the University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy. Not only did a come-from-behind 68-65 over Crowley's Ridge on Thursday night give the Eutectics their first win of the season, but it was the first win for Head Coach Markel Cox since becoming the new lead man for UHSP.

This one was tight throughout as the game featured 11 ties, 21 lead changes and neither team ever held a double-digit lead. The Eutectics came out firing knocking down three triples in the first quarter as Montasia McAllister hit a pair and Sara Hameed drilled another. Just before the quarter expired Alina Bowden fed Arianna Buduan who hit a jump shot to put the Eutectics up 15-14 after one.

Crowley's Ridge opened the second quarter scoring the first four points to grab an 18-15 lead with that three-point advantage being the largest for nearly the entire quarter. Reece Halley drilled a three-ball that knotted things at 18-18. It was tied again at 20-20 when Hameed made a layup. Bowden hit a three to give the Eutectics at 23-22 lead with 6:04 to go in the period. Buduan's three with 3:37 left put UHSP on top by a pair, but Kynslee Ward tied it with a layup :27 seconds later. It was 30-30 into the final minute when Morgan made a layup followed by a jumper to give the Purple and Gold the largest lead of the quarter and a halftime lead of 34-30.

After the half, things stayed incredibly tight in the third quarter. Hameed nailed a three about midway through the quarter as UHSP went ahead 41-40. With just under four minutes to go, the Pioneers grabbed a four-point lead, but Eva Parks cut it back to two with a jumper with 3:21 left. Joi Montgomery again made it four with 1:53 remaining and after the two clubs traded layups in the final ten seconds, CRC was able to take that four-point advantage to the end of the quarter, leading 51-47 after three.

In the first minute and a quarter of the fourth, the visitors scored six straight to take a 53-51 lead after a Kailana Reed jump shot. Crowley's Ridge responded with a 7-0 run capped by a couple of Montgomery free throws with 7:28 left, putting CRC on top 58-53. The Pioneers put the Eutectics in a larger hole when Ansley Dawson's layup with 5:54 gave the home club their largest lead of the game, 62-55. But the Pioneer's luck would run out as they were held scoreless for better than five minutes. The next time they scored, there was :12 second left on the clock and a Brooklyn Kearbey triple cut UHSP's lead to 66-65. The Eutectics went on an 11-0 run after CRC had taken that seven-point lead and went up by two possessions with under :15 seconds to go. That gave the Eutectics a bit of a cushion that allowed them to absorb the Kearbey three and still pull out a win after a couple of Morgan free throws salted the game away.

UHSP's leading scorer Montasia McAllister came up big with 20 points, nine rebounds, two assists and three steals and two blocked shots. Karsyn Morgan added 16 points with four steals as Crowley's Ridge turned it over 24 times in the game to 16 for the Eutectics. Joi Montgomery paced the Pioneers with 18 points and 13 boards. Neither team shot the ball particularly well as both were under 40% from the floor. UHSP was 25-of-68 (36.8%) while CRC was 24-for-72 (33.3%). One area that was a big disparity was shooting from the perimeter. Not that the Eutectics lit it up exactly as they were 7-for-23 (30.4%) but Crowley's Ridge was miserable from the perimeter connecting on just three on their 27 attempts (11.1%). The Pioneers owned the boards outrebounding UHSP 54-30

The Eutectics (1-4, 1-0) will try to make it back-to-back conference wins when they again visit the Natural State on Saturday afternoon as they play at Central Baptist for a 1:00 pm tipoff.