MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Rhodes basketball opened their 2013-2014 campaign on Saturday with a win over Blackburn College, 90-63.
 
Rhodes opens the season with a win and a 1-0 record, while Blackburn falls to 0-1 to start the year.
 
The Lynx had a handle on the contest from the get go, never trailing the Beavers.  Rhodes opened up with a fast paced offence, taking advantage of the Beavers 15 first half turnovers, scoring 20 points on turnovers alone.
 
Sarah Johnson extended the Rhodes lead to ten at the 10:36 mark when she found her way to the basketball making the count 22-12. Rhodes continued to extend their lead in the first half of action, going on a 12-1 run fueled by a pair of Johnson buckets and an Amy Handelman lay-in at the 2:11 mark, to lead 42-21. Blair Smith hit a long three pointer as the first half's time expired to take the Lynx 47-27 lead into the half.
 
Rhodes remained dominant in the second half of play as they Lynx continued to build on their lead, opening the half with an eight point run. Symone Daniels added a pair of lay-ups to two baskets from Johnson and Lauren Avant for the eight point stretch.
 
Rhodes got to its largest lead of the game at the 86-54 mark, when Bailey Kramer converted a layup with three minutes to play in the contest.
 
Rhodes was led in offense by Daniels and Avant who both netted 18 points in their first outing. Daniels also secured her first Rhodes career double-double, pulling down 11 rebounds in the contest, while Avant added seven assists and four steals to her stat line. Johnson snagged 13 points and five assists against the Beavers, while Smith earned double digit figures in her first collegiate outing with ten points.

The Beavers were led by the efforts of Ciara Morgan who had a game high 26 points and pulled 10 rebounds in for a double-double performance.
 
Rhodes will be back in action on Sunday as they wrap up the Bancorp Tipoff Classic against the visiting Rust College. The Nov. 17 tipoff is set for 3 p.m. in Mallory Gymnasium at Rhodes College.