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YOUNG HARRIS, Ga. | Young Harris College pulled away from Lees-McRae College in the second half as the Mountain Lions picked up a 76-52 women's basketball homecoming victory Saturday (Nov. 19) afternoon at the YHC Basketball Arena.

The Mountain Lions leveled their record at 1-1 while the Bobcats remained winless in three tries. Young Harris closes out their season-opening homestand Tuesday (Nov. 22) when they entertain Brenau University in a 5:30 p.m. contest. 

Young Harris started slow  out of the gates as they only connected on four field goals in the first quarter that saw them down 19-8. Lees-McRae pushed its lead out to 12 points (22-10) on a three-pointer by Taylor Fluette less than a minute into the second hquarter; however, the Mountain Lions got within five points (33-28) at the half.

Young Harris took its first lead of the game since scoring the opening bucket of the game at 42-41 on two free throws by Briana Bell with 2:33 remaining in the third quarter. That ignited a 24-4 run for the Mountain Lions over the next eight minutes as Young Harris opened up a 64-45 lead on a Jenny Vernet layup with 5:06 remaining in the game. Meredith Tarver scored eight points during the run, while Bria Ratliff added seven more.

The final score was the largest margin - 24 points - that YHC enjoyed the entire game.

"That was a tale of two halves," said YHC head coach Matt Stearsman. "We started slow, but man alive we got moving in the second half. I'm not sure what got them going, but I hope we can bottle it up for Tuesday. We've got a lot of people who move well and can score and that showed today. Very proud of them with the effort they put out today."

Ratliff led all scorers with 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field and added seven steals. Vernet added 11 points and eight rebounds while Tarver contributed 10 points and eight rebounds. Bell nearly had a double double as she grabbed a team-best 11 rebounds to go with her nine points. 

Brea Forbes led the Bobcats with 15 points.