COLUMBIA, S.C. – Taylor Christmas made a layup with two seconds left to lift the Benedict College Lady Tigers to a 74-72 victory over Fort Valley State in a SIAC women's basketball contest on Saturday afternoon in the Benjamin E. Mays HRC Arena.
 
Fort Valley State had a 72-68 lead with 15 seconds left after sinking a pair of free throws. Alaysia Nash scored on a driving layup with 10 seconds remaining, then stole the ball with eight seconds left and scored a layup to tie the game with seven seconds left. Benedict forced another Fort Valley State turnover with four seconds remaining, setting up Christmas' game-winning shot.
 
Nash led the Lady Tigers with 19 points, while Ciara Hardy added 18 points. Christmas scored 12 points and Aaliyah Lawrence chipped in 11 points and grabbed a team-high nine rebounds.
 
Fort Valley State had a 14-10 lead at the end of the first quarter, but Benedict rallied in the second quarter to take a 30-26 lead at the half. Benedict built as much as an eight-point lead, 47-39, in the third quarter before the Lady Wildcats cut the deficit to 50-49 heading into the final quarter. Fort Valley State had a 68-62 lead with 3:31 left to play, but Benedict scored the next six points to tie the game with under two minutes remaining.
 
Benedict improves to 6-8 overall and 4-5 in the SIAC, while Fort Valley State falls to 6-10 overall and 3-7 in the SIAC.
 
The Lady Tigers will be back in action on Monday, with a 5:30 p.m. contest against Albany State in the HRC Arena.