ALC Lady Eagles Basketball drops season opener to Kentucky Christian University, 76-70

Pippa Passes, KY: The Alice Lloyd College Lady Eagles basketball squad opened the 2025-26 campaign by hosting the Kentucky Christian University Lady Knights. Poor shooting would prove impossible to overcome as the visitors pulled out a 76-70 victory.

In the first period, the hosts broke away from a 9-9 tie with a nice run, culminated by an old-fashioned three-point play at 3:24 from senior guard Aziah Campbell. This gave her squad a 17-10 advantage.

However, from there, Kentucky Christian would close the stanza with back-to-back trifectas to set the score 17-16 after ten minutes of play.

In the second period, the home squad suddenly went cold, and KCU kept the momentum. Over a total of 10:10, the Lady Knights would roll off a 27-8 blitz to move in front, 37-25. The visitors would settle for a comfortable 37-28 advantage at intermission.

In the third period, ALC hoped to cut into the deficit, but unfortunately, the club only sank a frigid 12.5% (3-24) from the floor. Because of this, Kentucky Christian would still hold a 48-39 cushion entering the final quarter.

In the final ten minutes, the visitors pushed their advantage to thirteen (53-40) in the first minute of play before the hosts finally caught fire. Over the next 1:30 of action, the Caney Creek crew saw the sophomore duo of Elivia Moore and Bailey Stewart fuel a quick 10-2 burst, and make the score 55-50 with 7:30 remaining. Later, at 6:04, Moore's driving layup would shrink the deficit to just three, 57-54.

Unfortunately, led by the play of Bell Sparks, KCU regrouped and answered with a key 11-4 run. This moved their advantage back to ten (68-58) and allowed them to hang on for the road victory.

For ALC (0-1) two players reached double-figures. Moore, who missed most of the opening half in foul trouble, sank 11-15 free throws to finish with 19 points. This includes 15 points in the final stanza. She added 3 steals.

She was closely followed by Bailey Stewart, who sank 7-14 field goals to finish with 16 points. She added 5 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 blocks.

In addition, junior Jamie Cowen finished with 10 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals and 7 points, while classmate Shelby Stewart added 8 points and tied with 3 assists. Sophomore Ashtyn Barrett added a pair of blocks.

On the day, the Lady Eagles only shot 27.8% (22-79) from the field, 21.9% (7-32) from long-range, and 63.3% (19-30) from the charity stripe. The added 46 rebounds, 14 assists, 11 steals, and 8 blocks.

KCU (1-0) was led by Sparks, with 21 points. Her club shot 33.8% (23-68) from the field, 23.8% (5-21) from long-range, and 67.6% (25-37) from the foul line. They helped themselves with 65 rebounds and added 15 assists and 9 steals.