DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - The Bethune-Cookman Lady Wildcats (3-7) won their third home game in four tries on Sunday afternoon at Richard V. Moore Gymnasium, holding off a second-half push by the Jacksonville Dolphins (3-4) for an outstanding team win, 57-49, marking the first B-CU victory in the series.

“I'm really proud of our ladies for stepping up and taking care of the home court,” Head Coach Vanessa Blair-Lewis said.

Defense was the tone for the game, and the Lady Wildcats set it early, allowing the Dolphins only free throws across the first four minutes of the game. B-CU showed offensive composure in the opening period, striking out to early leads. However, the Dolphins countered, forcing six ties, and claiming a brief two-point lead with just over four minutes to go before halftime.

Led by a tag-team effort by senior guards Chastity René Taylor and Shakeyia Colyer, the Lady Wildcats exploded into a 12-2 run, carrying a 28-20 advantage into the locker room.

Despite being held to four in the first half, Taylor made her presence known quickly in the second period, putting in the first two of her 19 second-half points just 31 seconds into the half. Taylor's play and 13-point contribution jumpstarted a 15-2 B-CU run, granting B-CU its largest advantage at 21 with 14:05 on the clock.

Sitting on a substantial lead, B-CU struggled offensively, going over six minutes without a score, while Jacksonville put up 11 to claw back into the game.

With the advantage drawn to six, Colyer attacked the basket on consecutive possessions to extend the lead back to double digits, but the Dolphins had one final push in them, drawing their deficit to just four points with 1:54 on the clock. Redshirt junior Kayla Crawford created some breathing room with a paint jumper. As the clock ticked away, Taylor closed out the victory by taking care of business at the free throw line, hitting four consecutive to finish off the 57-49 win.

Taylor finished with a season high of 23 points, hitting three from long range and all six of her free throws. The DeSoto, Texas native has led the team in scoring for the last seven consecutive games and this is her fourth 20-plus point performance on the year. Colyer shot 57 percent from the floor a season-best 16 points, along with three assists and two steals.

Defensively, redshirt freshman Kailyn Williams leapt into the all-time B-CU season blocked shot leaders list with her six block, 10 rebound performance, passing Danisha Kemp (10th, 29 blocks, 1996) and Kenna Myers (ninth, 30 blocks, 1986) to tie for seventh with Latonya Reed (2004) and Amanda Jones (1988) with 31 rejections on the campaign.

For the fourth consecutive game, the Lady Wildcats outrebounded their opponent, topping Jacksonville 38-35 on the boards. The team logged a season-best 13 steals as well.

“If the team buys in defensively, our shooting will get better, because we'll get stops,” Blair-Lewis noted.

The team also hit a season-best 86.7 percent (13-of-15) from the free throw line.

The Lady Wildcats return to action on Friday and Saturday (Dec. 20-21) at the Stetson Hatter Classic in DeLand, Fla., slated to face-off with Nicholls State and then Murray State.

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-B-CUathletics.com-