BUIES CREEK, N.C. - Leading by five points with 5:30 remaining, Campbell (14-9, 9-5 BSC) used a 10-1 run sparked by six points from sophomore Jessica Pone to close out a 61-47 victory over Charleston Southern (5-17, 1-12 BSC) inside Gore Arena on Thursday evening.
The Lady Camels led by as many as 16 in the second half before the Buccaneers fought their way back into the game with nine unanswered points midway through the frame.
Campbell held Charleston Southern to just 28.3 percent (17-of-60) shooting for the game, the second straight contest that it has held an opponent below 30 percent. The Lady Camels went 24-of-61 (39.3 percent) from the floor and knocked down six three-pointers for the second game in a row.
Redshirt junior RaeChaun Edwards tied for the lead among all scorers with 15 points, knocking down three shots from beyond the arc. Seniors Summer Leverette (12), Juli Osborne (11) and Kiera Gaines (10) joined her in double figures, the first time since Jan. 17 against Radford that four Lady Camels have reached double digits.
Gaines also collected her sixth double-double of the season and 20th of her career with a game-high 10 rebounds.
Alyssa Mann led the Buccaneers with 15 points, Nayla Long chipped in 12 points and Alise Karlsone tallied 10 of her own. Long led Charleston Southern with seven rebounds in the contest.
Campbell got off to a hot start out of the gate, opening the game on a 12-4 run over the first seven and a half minutes. Leverette keyed the run with a pair of three-pointers and eight points in total to help the Lady Camels build an early advantage. Charleston Southern was held to just two baskets in its first 12 attempts during the stretch.
Trailing 19-10 with 9:15 remaining, the Buccaneers put together a 9-3 stretch, including six unanswered points, with a trio of three-pointers over the next six minutes. Karlsone knocked down two of the shots from deep, and Mann added the third at the 3:17 mark to cut Campbell's lead to 22-19.
The Lady Camels would not allow the Buccaneers to close the gap to any fewer than three for the remainder of the half, and Gaines sent Campbell into the locker room with a 26-21 lead after a layup with just four ticks left on the clock.
Campbell maintained a single-digit lead through the first media stoppage of the second half, and Charleston Southern's Long slashed the advantage to just six, 37-31, on a pair of free throws. A layup by Osborne sparked a Lady Camel run, however, and back-to-back three-pointers from sophomore Amanda Coffer and Leverette added to what would become a 10-0 run for Campbell. Leverette's jumper with 13:47 remaining gave the Lady Camels their biggest lead of the night, a 47-31 advantage.
Charleston Southern responded with a quick 9-0 burst of its own to chip Campbell's lead down to just five points with 6:27 on the clock. Karlsone was the catalyst of the run, scoring four points and the concluding layup that left the Buccaneers trailing only 49-44 after the three and a half-minute spurt.
Behind six points from Pone over the final four minutes, the Lady Camels finished the game on a 10-1 run, capped by an Edwards jumper with nine seconds left to reach the final 61-47 scoreline.
Campbell will have the weekend off before returning to action next Tuesday evening at 7:00 p.m. with a visit to UNC Asheville. The Lady Camels claimed the first meeting this season with a come-from-behind 60-55 victory inside Gore Arena on Jan. 10.
