Bristol, TN – Coming off their first Conference Carolinas victory on Tuesday night, the Converse College Women's Basketball team hit the road seeking their first victory away from the friendly confines of Hannah Gymnasium this season.  Standing in their way was King University.  It had been 9 years since the Valkyries had beaten King and that was a streak they wanted to put to an end.  It would not be an easy task but they would look to continue their hot shooting from Tuesday's game.

King jumped out to an early 4-0 lead at the beginning of the first quarter, until Keyshuna Fair hit an open 3-pointer, to trim the lead to 1.  The Tornado answered with a three of their own but Lindsey Hardin quickly went down the court and connected on another Converse 3-pointer.  Both teams would trade baskets and at the 3:26 mark of the quarter, the scored was tied 12-12.  With only 29 seconds remaining, a Jordan Brown layup gave the Valkyries their first lead of the game, 16-15, and that would be the way the quarter ended. 

As the second quarter began, King would regain the lead and found themselves up 23-21.  That lead was shot lived as Alliee Patillo drained a 3-pointer to give Converse a two-point advantage.  The Tornado would go back up by three, until Ayanna Parker come off the bench and connected on another Valkyries' 3-pointer, to tie things up at 28-28.  King suddenly began to put some distance between the two teams and pushed their lead to six points, 37-31. Keyshuna Fair would add two more 3-pointers to close the gap and as the half came to an end, King led Converse by a score of 41-38.

The third quarter started with a 3 from the Tornado ,followed by another three from Keyshuna Fair.  King would eventually push their lead back to 5 points, 46-41, but a Jordan Brown FT, cut it to 4.  Brown would also convert a layup, along with another by Eva Carballo, to tie the game up at 46-46.  Two Tornado free throws, allowed King to regain the lead, 48-46.  However, with 56 seconds remaining in the quarter, Carballo tied things up, 48-48, when she connected on a short jumper.  When the clock hit zero, the Tornado pulled back ahead by 1, 50-49. 

Once again, as the fourth quarter began, Keyshuna Fair would get things started for the Valkyries with a jumper, giving them a 51-50 lead.  Next, she converted two technical foul free throws and Converse would take a three-point lead.  After the technical, the Valkyries got the ball back and Jordan Brown took advantage by hitting a jumper to go up 55-50.  King scored two of their own, but Lindsey Hardin answered and Converse was up 57-52.  After a free throw from the Tornado, a Jordan Brown layup increased the lead to 6 points.  King cut the lead in half, 63-60 and eventually, found themselves only down by 2, 66-64.  It was a back and forth affair for the last few minutes of the game, but a 3-pointer by Lindsey Hardin as the shot clock expired sealed the deal for the Valkyries.  Even though the Tornado had two free throws at the end of the game to try to force overtime, they were unable to convert either of them, giving Converse the upset win, 71-69.

The Valkyries are now on a two-game win streak.  This was the first time they have beaten King in 9 years.  Once again, they were led by Freshman Keyshuna Fair with another solid game.  She finished with 18 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals and went 4-9 in 3-point attempts.  Fair was followed by Lindsey Hardin who added 16 points, going 4-8 from the 3-point line and Jordan Brown with 14 points and 7 rebounds.  Brown also went 4-6 from the free throw line.  Converse will hit the road again on Saturday as they head east to North Carolina to take on Barton College.  They will look for their third win in a row.  However, the ride home from Tennessee tonight should be a good one.