Staff report

CHARLOTTE — The Catawba women’s basketball team rained 3-pointers on Queens early and put a five-game losing skid in the rearview mirror.

Catawba’s 72-48 South Atlantic Conference victory was easy, but no one complained. The Indians desperately needed an easy one. The past few weeks have brought nothing but heartbreak. Four of those five consecutive losses went down to the wire, including Saturday’s overtime loss to Anderson.

Catawba (14-10, 11-8) hadn’t tasted victory since it won against Coker on Jan. 25.

Freshman Madi Hallman had a career game for the Indians, tossing in 17 points and making three 3-pointers. Bri Johnson, recently named to the district All-Academic team, made four 3-pointers and scored 15. Serena Brown had 12 points and handed out five assists.

Johnson got things started. She made four 3-pointers in the opening minutes, scoring 12 of the Indians’ first 16 points. Catawba led 22-8 after a quarter, and Hallman and Brown took over from there. The Indians led 36-15 at halftime and they were up by as many as 28 points in the second half.

Catawba forced 30 turnovers and got 34 points off those turnovers.

The Indians finished with 49.1-percent shooting, but they were well above 50 percent most of the game.

Maggie Stewart made her first four shots and led the Royals (4-20, 4-15)  with 12 points.

Catawba is tied for fifth in the SAC with Lenoir-Rhyne and Newberry. The Indians play at Brevard this Saturday.

CATAWBA (72) — Hallman 17, Johnson 15, Brown 12, Rogers 8, Newbold 5, Tucker 4, Webb 4, Hodges 4, Franklin 2, Butler 1, Stevenson, Angelo.

QUEENS (48) —Stewart 12, Riffe 11, Oliverio 7, Richards 7, Henson 6, Logan 2, Blatnik 2, McNeese 1.

Catawba            22    14   20  16 —  72

Queens               8      7     13  20  — 48