TBC Eagles Women's Basketball erased a big first-quarter deficit to come from behind and defeat the Chargers of Southeastern Baptist College 56-51 in Saturday's exciting South Region contest. TBC trailed by 11 after the first period but fought back and took the lead just before halftime. The teams then traded leads throughout the third, and the Eagles went ahead for good early in the fourth.

Caroline Smith's free throws 46 seconds into the final period broke a 44-44 tie and gave her a total of 14 points on the day. Smith was 4 for 5 at the line overall and scored 12 in the first half.

[Caroline Smith totaled 14 points in the win on Saturday.]

After Trinity built a 5-point lead at 51-46, the Chargers scored the next two baskets to pull to within 1 at 51-50 with 5:27 remaining. Neither team scored again until Laila Harvey's jumper with 2:24 left. Harvey later hit a free throw to give the Eagles a three-point advantage with only 13 seconds left.

Southeastern Baptist inbounded with a chance to tie the game with a three-pointer, but Kirsten Joseph stole the pass near midcourt with 8 seconds left and hit Ranajala Brown in the paint; Brown beat the buzzer with a layup on the game's final play.

[Ranajala Brown ties for the game high with 16 points on Saturday.]

In the first quarter, Southeastern Baptist broke a 9-9 tie with two free throws from Sarahia Hurd, and those shots started a 13-2 run that gave the Chargers a 21-10 lead at the period's end. Hurd scored 11 points in the quarter, including 5 of 6 at the line.

Quarter two, though, belonged to the Eagles as they gradually chipped away. During the frame, Brown scored all 10 of her first-half points, including a 3-pointer. Smith added 6 more while Harvey and Victoria Broadway each tallied 4 to finish the quarter with a 24-12 margin going to the Eagles. With 3.3 seconds left, Brown tied the score with a layup, drew the foul, and completed the three-point play to give the Eagles a 34-33 lead at the break.

The third quarter saw 6 lead changes and 5 ties, and the score was knotted at 44-all when the clock hit 0:00. Alessandra Henriquez hit her second three-pointer of the game during that seesaw frame.

Brown finished tied for the game high with 16 points. Smith totaled 14, and Harvey scored 9. Henriquez's two three gave her 6 while Broadway tallied 5, and Joseph scored 4 all-important fourth-quarter points.

Southeastern Baptist got 16 points from Hurd, and 11 each from Sydney Coward and Mackenzie McGurit. Three other Chargers also scored significant points.

The Eagles will travel to USCAA Trinity College of Florida on Tuesday before returning home for South Region play against Bob Jones University on February 1 then battle Trinity College of Florida at home on February 8. The four remaining games afterward are all on the road.