Women's Basketball | 1/22/2014 10:52:00 PM

Box Score FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. - The MU women's basketball team forced 24 turnovers, and used a career-best 20 points from Ayanna Pegues to defeat visiting William Peace, 60-49, on Wednesday evening at the Riddle Center.
 
Locked in a tie ballgame at intermission (27-27), the Monarchs found themselves trailing by six points (40-34) with 11:34 remaining in regulation. During the opening nine minutes of the second period, Methodist shot 2-of-16 from the floor and turned the ball over four times. In this same span, the Pacers converted on just 4-of-11 field-goal attempts and had five turnovers, allowing MU to hang around.

Six straight points from Pegues and a three-pointer by Jackie Lyles would later knot the contest up (43-43) at the 8:47 mark. Methodist started to pull away when Monique Lofton hit a shot from distance with 7:12 on the clock to break a 45-45 tie (48-45). That basket was part of seven unanswered MU points, which was capped by a jumper by Lyles at the 5:37 mark for a five-point edge (50-45).

Following a Crystal Alston layup with 4:47 remaining, the Pacer offense would go silent and not score another point as went 0-for-3 from the floor with four turnovers to end the evening. In contrast, Methodist scored the game's final 11 points as four different players contributed points.
 
In the early going, Methodist (9-3, 5-2 USA South) relied on the productive tandem of Pegues and Lyles to claim a seven-point edge (14-7) with just under 13:30 remaining in the first half. Before Jalisia Campbell knocked down a jump shot at the 13:23 mark, Pegues and Lyles combined to score the Monarchs' first 12 points. Later trailing by eight points (17-9), the Pacers would go on a 10-0 run in less than five minutes to assume a two-point advantage (19-17) with less than seven minutes remaining in the first period. During this stretch, Methodist missed 14 consecutive field goals as it saw its lead to slip away. A jumper by Allison Dones at the 6:38 mark ended the Monarchs' scoring drought that lasted nearly six minutes and tied the game at 19-19. The two teams would go back and forth trading scores as they departed the court dead even at halftime (27-27).
 
For the night, Methodist hit 31.0 percent of its shots from the floor (22-71) and converted 68.4 percent of its shots from the charity stripe (13-19). William Peace (1-10, 1-4 USA South) converted 20-of-56 field-goal attempts (.357) but only attempted 10 free throws the entire game. The Monarchs held a slim 39-38 rebounding advantage, but grabbed 18 offensive rebounds compared to just eight by the Pacers.
 
In addition to scoring 20 points, Pegues had six rebounds for Methodist. Lyles totaled 13 points, eight boards, five assists and four steals. Alexis Wallace had three points and tied for game-high honors with eight rebounds.
 
Ka'La Jordan had 17 points and six rebounds for William Peace, and Brittany Boykin added 16 points off the bench. Lexus Simpson had six points and five rebounds.
 
The Monarchs will play on Saturday when Greensboro visits the Riddle Center for a 2:00 pm matchup.