Clayton State women return from holiday break with impressive 81-66 victory over Lenoir-Rhyne

Ragin scores career-high 22 points as 17th-ranked Lakers improve to 6-3 overall

MORROW, Ga. – Dec. 29, 2007 — The 13-day window between games didn’t seem to rust the Clayton State Laker women’s basketball much at all over the holiday break. If anything, it recharged it.

Returning to action on Saturday in the Heritage Bank Holiday Classic at the Athletics and Fitness Center, Clayton State ended a short two-game losing streak with an impressive 81-66 victory over visiting Lenoir-Rhyne. The victory improves 17th-ranked Clayton State to 6-3 overall on the season.

The Lakers got a tremendous outing from senior forward Shantel Ragin, who scored a career-high 22 points on 8-for-12 shooting from the field and 6-for-7 shooting from the free throw line.

It was Ragin who lit a charge into the Lakers in the first half with 11 points. Her lay-up at the 10:36 mark gave the Lakers their first lead of the game, 17-16. This came after Lenoir-Rhyne raced out to an early 8-0 lead.

Clayton State extended the lead to 11 points as Kim Larry’s 3-point play gave the Lakers a 31-20 lead with 5:55 remaining. Lenoir-Rhyne cut the deficit to three points, but two free throws and a 3-point play by Ragin in the waning seconds gave the Lakers a 39-32 lead at halftime.

Early in the second half, Lenoir-Rhyne trimmed the Laker lead to two points, 47-45 on a lay-up by Amber Holt at the 13:24 mark. However, Clayton State responded with a 15-5 run to take control of the game.

Lynette Jackson started the rally with a 3-point play, followed by two straight jump shots by Marie St. Fort to extend the Clayton State lead to 10 points. Roberta Phillips’ off-balanced shot in the lane gave the Lakers a 62-50 lead with eight minutes remaining in the game.

Clayton State’s largest lead of the game was 17 points, 79-62 on two free throws by Arlanderia Whitlock with 56 seconds remaining in the game.

In addition to Ragin, St. Fort scored 15 points off the bench, while Phillips and Jackson each scored 11 points. Jackson also had five blocked shots, while junior forward Lisa Jackson added eight points and eight rebounds for the Lakers. Clayton State shot 47 percent from the field for the game, while limiting Lenoir-Rhyne to only 33 percent shooting from the field.

For Lenoir-Rhyne (7-2), Holt scored 19 points, followed by LaCourtney Rann with 15 points and Jami Safrit scored 13 points.

Clayton State plays host to Fayetteville State on Sunday at 3 p.m. in the Heritage Bank Holiday Classic.