Women's Basketball | 11/17/2013 6:47:00 PM

Box Score ROCKY MOUNT, N.C. - The Methodist women's basketball team defeated Wesley, 67-56, on Sunday afternoon to close out its play in the Jean Edge Classic.
 
A day after missing 17 of their first 20 field goal attempts, the Monarchs found themselves ahead of the Wolverines by nine points (10-1) following three-pointers by Maya Banks and Jackie Lyles and a jumper by Miriya Bryant at the 14:57 mark. In those first five minutes, Wesley missed its first five shots from the field, turned the ball over four times and only had Tiara White's free throw in the third minute to its credit. WC's Brionna Johnson brought the team to within four points of MU (10-6) with two free throws at the 12:19 mark, but a Chandler Christensen layup and another Banks three-pointer stretched the Monarchs' lead back to nine (15-6) at the 11:41 mark. Banks would score five consecutive points for Methodist in the 10th minute, pushing the Monarchs ahead by 13 (21-8) with 9:42 remaining in the half.
 
Following a three-pointer by WC's Johnson at the 5:20 mark, the Wolverines were within eight (21-13) of the Monarchs, but Methodist cranked out a quick 10-0 run in just a shade over three minutes to pull ahead by 18 (31-13) with 1:40 on the clock. Lyles accounted for six of those 10 points. Following two successful free throws by Christensen with 10 seconds left, the teams went to the locker rooms with Methodist winning by 15 (33-18).
 
MU held a 30-18 advantage in rebounds and converted on 40 percent of its three-point field goal attempts (4-10) in the first half. Additionally, it held WC to a 20.7 percent field goal percentage (6-29) and forced 17 turnovers.
 
In the second period, the teams exchanged points for the better part of the first three minutes, and then Wesley made an 8-2 run to trim its deficit to 10 (42-32) as Johnson made a layup. The Wolverines continued to whittle down the Monarchs' lead, coming as close as eight (52-44) on another Johnson layup at the 9:55 mark. Methodist kept going, however, as Ayanna Pegues scored the team's next 11 points over a span of six-plus minutes. Pegues capped her scoring streak as she converted a three-point play at the 3:02 mark, putting MU ahead by 10 (63-53).
 
As the game clock ran out, Methodist (1-1) earned its first win of the 2013-14 season while Wesley remained winless (0-2). The Monarchs overcame 31 turnovers, but also showed improvement from their first game performance in terms of shooting percentage. The team went from 27 percent in the season opener to making 36.4 percent of its field goals on Sunday (20-55).
 
Banks paced MU with a team-best 21 points in just 25 minutes on the court, earning all-tournament honors. Pegues had 15 points and seven rebounds, and Lyles totaled 11 points, five boards and five steals. Christensen finished with seven points, seven rebounds, five assists and two blocks.
 
Johnson paced all players with 27 points, including a 12-of-13 day from the charity stripe, to go along with a game-high 11 boards. Roniece Williams added nine points, eight steals, four rebounds and three assists for Wesley.
 
Methodist will play next in its home opener against Washington and Lee on Saturday at 2:00 pm.