FERRUM, Va. – Ferrum College stepped up its defensive performance Sunday afternoon to key a 70-55 USA South Conference women's basketball victory over visiting Shenandoah.

Ferrum (7-8, 3-2 USA South) rallied from a 33-31 deficit early in the second half to send Shenandoah (5-9, 2-3) down to its second straight conference loss.

The Hornets took that two-point advantage on an Alicia Sanders jumper 57 seconds into the second half, but saw the wheels fall off a short time later.

With the score tied 37-37 at the 15:39 mark, FC reeled off 17 of the game's next 21 points to a take a 54-41 with 11:08 to play. SU finally snapped this string with a KneAndra Kelly layup 13 seconds later, but this 11-point deficit would be as close as the Hornets would come the rest of the way.

The Lady Panthers answered Kelly's bucket with a 7-0 run; this pushed their lead to a game-high 19 points. The lead eventually reached 20 before Shenandoah completed the game on a 10-5 run.

Ferrum forced the Hornets into 13 of their 25 turnovers following the halftime intermission.

Junior Cassie Womack led the visitors with 11 points while classmate Alicia Sanders had 10. Womack also had a game-high nine rebounds.

Charde Evans posted a game-high 15 points and Aline Alzime 12 for Ferrum.

Box Score/Play by Play 

SU is off for the next six days until hosting Greensboro in a USA South Conference contest on Saturday at 2:00.