The LBWCC Lady Saints picked up a 79-75 victory over the Faulkner University Lady Eagles junior varsity squad Saturday afternoon in Andalusia.

Former Pleasant Home star Jade Self tied a season-high with 12 points for the Lady Eagles in the loss.

The Lady Saints took the lead early in the first, and went up 6-3 after Mollary Diamond knocked down a pair of free throws.

Faulkner then pushed the ball down the court and tossed up a shot that just missed the mark. Self went up and corralled the rebound over several much bigger players, and went right back up with to cut the lead to 6-5.

Alexis Jones then got her first bucket of the game for the Lady Saints with a strong drive through the lane for a layup.

The Lady Eagles started to find their grove with buckets from Andrea Landrum and Rachel Webster to give Faulkner a 9-8 lead with 4:31 in the first period.

Ashley Merritt followed with a big 3-pointer to put the Lady Eagles up 12-8.

The Lady Saints weren’t going to fold up shop, and consecutive baskets from Diamond, Tylan Carter and Brittany Ford put LBWCC up 14-12 with just over a minute left in the first period.

Hannah Brady then tied the game up for the Faulkner with a layup off an assist from Self.

At the end of the first period, the Lady Saints held a 20-14 lead.

Faulkner got the scoring started in the second period with a free throw from CeDreanna Stafford, and then Stafford got on offensive rebound and put it back up for a bucket.

The Lady Saints went down the court and tried to set up their offense, but Self darted in between a pass and tipped it to a teammate for the steal.

The steal led to another basket from Stafford to put the Lady Eagles down 20-19.

Faulkner’s fast start to the second period continued when Self snagged an offensive rebound and put it back in for 21-20 Lady Eagles’ lead.

A 3-pointer from Diamond then gave the lead back to the Lady Saints, but Self responded with a 3-pointer of her own to put Faulkner up 24-23 with 5:09 left before halftime.

Rebecca Quillman put the Lady Eagles up 26-23 with a strong drive to the basket.

After Jones cut the lead down to one with a pair of free throws, Merritt began to heat up for the Lady Eagles.

Merritt connected from downtown with three minutes to go before half, and then hit two more 3-pointers before the half ended. Faulkner also got a buzzer beater from Self to give the Lady Eagles a 38-32 lead at halftime.

As the third period started, Ford came out and buried a 3-pointer to make it a 38-35 lead.

Faulkner then got an old-fashioned 3-point play from Webster, but Ford followed with another 3-pointer.

Merritt’s hot hand rolled over to the third period as well, as she railed a 3-pointer to put Faulkner up 44-38 early in the second half.

A strong drive to the basket from Ford cut the lead down to 44-40, and Jones hits a pair of free throws to make it 45-42 with 6:57 left in the third period.

Two layups from Stafford, with a layup from LBW’s Jones in between, gave Faulkner a 49-44 lead.

The Lady Saints cut the lead down to 3 points, but Self dropped a long range 3-pointer to put the Lady Eagles up 52-46 with 5:11 left in the third period.

Two more 3-pointers from Merritt helped the Lady Eagles close out the third period and give Faulkner a 62-58 lead heading into the final period.

Jones got the scoring started with a quick layup to start the fourth period, but Faulkner responded right back with a layup from Brady.

Jones then dropped in another layup to make cut the Lady Eagles’ lead down to 2 points, but a 3-pointer from Merritt and a layup from Quillman put Faulkner up 69-62.

The Lady Saints came roaring back and a steal and layup from RaAunna Caldwell cut the Faulkner lead down to 69-66. Another basket from the Lady Saints made it a 1-point game with two minutes left.

Not letting up on the Lady Eagles, Diamond dropped in a layup to put the Lady Saints up 70-69 with just over a minute left in the game.

Free throws from Diamond and Jones then made the score 75-71 with 22 seconds left in the game.

Diamond went on to hit four more free throws in the closing seconds to give the Lady Saints a 79-75 victory.

Merritt led the way for the Lady Eagles with 26 points.

Jones led the Lady Saints and all scorers with 29 points in the win and Diamond finished with 16 points.

“Well we came back at the end, but we are still going to have to play a lot better on the defensive side,” LBWCC head coach Ricky Knight said. “We had a bunch of wide open layups that we missed, and we missed some free throws there at the end that could have put the game away.”