COLUMBIA, S.C. – The Benedict College Lady Tigers, who have led NCAA Division II in rebounding margin for the past two years, outrebounded Elizabeth City State 65-21 and cruised to a 82-44 victory in their season opener on Tuesday night in the Benjamin E. Mays HRC Arena.

Regime McCombs led Benedict with 19 points, while DaVontaye Merritt grabbed a career-high 16 rebounds to lead the Lady Tigers, now 1-0.

KaDeeja Vaughn had a strong all-around game with 14 points, nine rebounds and a game-high three blocked shots. Ieisha Hopwood chipped in with 11 points.

Benedict scored the first nine points of the game and never looked back. The Lady Tigers led by as many as 16 points, 23-7, in the first period. Benedict led 23-10 after the first period. Benedict increased the lead to as much as 27 points, 43-16, before Elizabeth City State hit a layup to cut the lead to 43-18 at the halftime break.

Benedict increased its lead to 70-29 at the end of the third period, and a 3-pointer by McCombs to start the fourth period gave Benedict its biggest lead at 44 points, 73-29.

Arielle Harris led Elizabeth City State, now 0-1, with 12 points.

Benedict used its rebounding superiority to score 27 second-chance points, while Elizabeth City State had just two second-chance points. Benedict forced 19 ECSU turnovers and converted those into 23 points.

The Lady Tigers held the Lady Vikings to just 28.3 percent shooting, including 21 percent in the first two quarters.

The Lady Tigers will face Carver College at home on Monday. Tipoff is 6 p.m.