ROME -- The Lady Hawks opened the final week of the regular season with a 16-10 win over the University of Montevallo in non-conference action Wednesday evening.

Shorter improves to 5-10 on the season; while the Falcons move to 6-10 overall. The Lady Hawks won the previous meeting of the teams, 17-8, on the road.

The Lady Hawks jumped out to an early lead, tallying the game's first four points as Tiffany Konpachith, Ashley Nuqui, and Crystall Marshall got the offense going. Kongpachith scored the first goal of the night with 26:11 on the clock, before Nuqui netted a pass from Marshall, and Kongpachith followed with a goal on an assist from Nuqui with 21:06 to play in the half. Marshall then got in on the scoring moments later on a feed from Nuqui to bring Shorter's advantage to 4-0.

Montevallo halted the run at four with their first goal of the game from Maddie Ellis with 15:43 to play. Only to have the Lady Hawks answer with a goal of their own as Marshall found the back of the net for the second time to maintain the lead. Over the next few minutes the teams traded goals, with Ellis and Jami Hudak doing the damage for the Falcons, and Marshall and Allie Perry netting scores for Shorter. Nuqui followed Marshall's third goal of the game, with her third of the game with 3:49 to play. And, both teams added a final score before the break for the 9-4 score.

In the opening minutes of the second half, Shorter extended its lead to as many as six as Nuqui and Kari Chambers went back to back after Montevallo opened the scoring with a goal in the first three minutes of the period. With Shorter up 11-5, the Falcons cut the lead to four, turning in back-to-back scores, but the Lady Hawks answered to bring their advantage back to six on consecutive scores from Alex Abbey and Perry as 12:03 and 11:17, respectively. Down the stretch, each team posted three goals for the 16-10 final score. For Shorter the goals came from Nuqui, Perry, and Marshall; while Kongpachith added an assist.

In total, the Lady Hawks outshot the Falcons 41-27, and held a 32-17 advantage in shots on goal. Shorter also led in ground balls 35-29, and won 17 of 28 draws.

Marshall led the offense with five goals and two assists; while Nuqui chipped in with four goals and two assists. Perry finished with three goals for Shorter to go along with a 10 draw controls and eight ground balls. Abbey anchored the defense with five caused turnovers, five ground balls, and four draw controls. And, Catherine finished with seven saves in goal for the Lady Hawks.

Shorter will close out the regular season and Gulf South Conference play Saturday evening as they welcome Young Harris College to Ben Brady Field for a 5:00pm start.