GAINESVILLE, Ga.— The Montreat women's basketball team kept its perfect record intact Tuesday night, taming the Brenau University Golden Tigers with a 78-46 Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) victory in Gainesville, Ga. With the triumph, the Cavaliers improved to 5-0 (4-0 AAC).
 
Defense set the tone early as the Cavaliers held the Golden Tigers off the scoreboard for nearly three minutes in the game's opening quarter. Meanwhile, on the offensive end of the floor, Makayla Thompson, Aebri Graham and Mariya Williams contributed 10 combined points to hand the visitors a 10-3 edge just 4:11 into the ballgame. Brenau (2-3, 1-3 AAC) did eliminate its early deficit, however, and utilized a series of long-range shots and free throw attempts to take a lead late in the quarter. Only a pair of buckets by Virginia Edmondson and a deep 2-point basket by Williams ensured that the Cavs entered the second frame tied at 20.
 
Montreat bottled up its opening four minutes of dominance in the initial quarter and applied it to the entire second period. Brenau scored the first points of the frame, but the Cavaliers sprinted out to a 16-1 run over the next five minutes to tilt the contest heavily in their favor. Five different Cavs scored during the game-altering stretch that put Montreat up 36-23 as the visitors never led by fewer than 10 points the remainder of the night. Ultimately, Montreat entered the halftime break with a 43-30 lead.
 
The Cavaliers got to the free throw line 22 times in the first half and were led in scoring by Williams and Thompson as each player poured in 13 points. Edmondson entered the intermission with seven points in the box score.
 
Entering Tuesday night, Montreat had outscored its opponents by 52 points in the third quarter alone. That trend continued in Gainesville as the Cavaliers relied on another superb defensive frame to all but put the game out of reach. Montreat surrendered just two points in the third and outscored Brenau 12-2 to take a 55-32 advantage with only 10 minutes left in the contest.
 
Hounded by an aggressive Cavalier defense, Brenau didn't make its second basket of the latter half until the 6:58 mark of the fourth quarter. By that point, Montreat already held an insurmountable 61-35 lead. Williams played a massive role in Montreat's 40-10 edge in points in the paint, and her layup midway through the frame gave the Cavs their largest lead of the night (65-35)—that is, until four late Amaya Adams free throws closed out the contest's scoring and handed the visitors a 78-46 road triumph, preserving their perfect record in the process.
 
"We had great energy and solid defense in the second half," said head coach Josh Thompson. "I was really happy with how we defended in the third quarter."
 
Williams led all scorers with 23 points and 15 rebounds for her third double-double of the season. Meanwhile, Thompson contributed 17 points, and Edmondson joined her fellow teammates in double figures with 10 points. Eleven different Cavaliers scored at least two points, and the visitors took twice as many free throws as their counterparts during Tuesday night's win (35-18).
 
The Montreat women's basketball team returns to McAlister Gymnasium on Thursday for another conference contest, this time against the Bryan College Lions. Tipoff is slated for 5:30 p.m. in Montreat, N.C.