MISENHEIMER, N.C.- Converse's best 20 minutes of the season was overshadowed by a half of miscues in a tight battle against Pfeiffer on Wednesday evening falling 72-63. Converse shot a season high 60.7% in the second half in an attempt to erase a 14 point deficit at half. Converse falls to 1-8 on the season and 0-6 in Conference Carolinas play. Pfeiffer escapes with the win to improve to 4-7 on the season and 3-4 in league play.
Despite having four players in double-figures, the Valkyries first half miscues led to its demise. Daijah Edmonds-Surratt (Spartanburg, S.C.) led the way for the Valkyries with a career-high 15 points and seven rebounds. E.-Surratt played 15 minutes off the bench to give the Valkyries a spark. Kelcee Dozier (Blythewood, S.C.) posted her fourth straight double-figure game scoring 12 points. Jakyra Washington (Durham, N.C.) and Kassidy Moorhouse (Anderson, S.C.) chipped in 10 points apiece. Erin Horne (Orlando, Fla.) scored eight points.
Logan Hollis (Spartanburg, S.C.), Margo Dill (Hilton Head, S.C.) and Horne grabbed five caroms each. The Valkyries outrebounded the Falcons 39-32 with the edge being on the offensive glass (17-10).
A Valkyrie run at the 10:51 mark of the second half helped Converse shrink the Pfeiffer lead from 14 (52-38) to one (54-53) in a 5:05 span going on a 15-2 run. The run started with E.-Surratt hit two free throws at the charity stripe. Moorhouse drained a three 30 seconds later to cut it under 10 points. Horne hit back-to-back jumpers to bring it within five (52-47). E.-Surratt and Washington scored on lay-ups followed by a steal by Horne and converting two from the line by Horne to cut the score to 54-53.
Pfeiffer would push the lead back to six (62-56) before lay-ups by E.-Surratt and Hollis cut it back down to two (62-60) with 3:30 remaining. The Falcons finished the game on a 10-3 run.
The first half started off slow with both teams exchanging blows. The Falcons started to pull away in the first half at the 11:50 mark of the half. Pfeiffer's Meg Pritchard kept the Falcons on top the rest of the way scoring 13 of her 25 points in the first half. Carter Williams aided Pritchard from behind the arc scoring 14 of her 20 points in the first half. Williams finished 5-8 from deep.
Converse turned the ball over 26 times with 16 turnovers in the first half while shooting 27.6% in a half filled with miscues. The Valkyries finished the game shooting 43.9%. Converse shot 57.1% from behind the arc in the second half thanks to Moorhouse going 3-3 from deep. Moorhouse finished 3-5 from downtown.
The Valkyries outscored the Falcon bench 39-6 and 17-5 on second chance points. Pfeiffer outscored Converse in the paint 36-28.
Converse returns home Saturday, January 10 against Emmanuel (Ga.). Converse fell to Emmanuel (Ga.) earlier in the season 58-50 in Franklin Springs, Ga.. Tip-off is at 2 pm.