Mount Olive led by as many as 14 points in the second half, but turnovers and cold shooting allowed North Greenville to rally as the Trojans fell  66-62 in Conference Carolinas women's basketball Saturday at Kornegay Arena. Tamara Nesmith led all players with 18 points for the Trojans, while Andrea Jones added 17 points and a career-high seven steals, but it wasn't enough to prevent the Trojans' first home loss this season in conference play.

Krisceda Cotton came close to a triple-double for North Greenville with 12 points, 16 rebounds and seven assists.

Mount Olive (13-5, 7-2 Conference Carolinas) led 47-33 with 13:29 left to play after a pair of transition layups by Destinee Webb off of assists by Jones. North Greenville answered with three-pointers by Aliyah Stokes and Christina Carlis as the Crusaders pulled within 54-51 with 8:22 remaining.

Kirksten Mitchell sank a pair of free throws, but Alisha Hope's putback capped a 6-0 North Greenville run and gave the Crusaders their first lead of the game at 57-56 with 5:36 left. Jasmine McDonald's off-balance left-handed layup put Mount Olive back on top and Nesmith scored a backdoor layup off a McDonald dish to give the Trojans a 60-57 lead with 4:10 left. But Mount Olive would be limited to a single field goal for the remainder of the game.

North Greenville pulled within a point on Ciara Anderson's basket and Cotton's steal led to Raven Wamer's layup with 3:15 remaining to put the Crusaders back on top 61-60. After a North Greenville free throw, Mount Olive tied the game 62-62 on Jones' layup with 1:43 left.

Courtney Friddle's layup on North Greenville's next possession put the Crusaders ahead to stay with 1:22 remaining. Mount Olive missed what proved to be its last shot attempt of the game nine seconds later and an offensive rebound allowed North Greenville to run the clock down to 37 seconds.

Mount Olive had one final chance after a North Greenville turnover, but the Trojans gave it back with 14 seconds remaining. Cotton sealed the win with a pair of free throws with four seconds left.

In the first half, Nesmith scored six of Mount Olive's first 11 points as the Trojans jumped out to an early seven-point lead. Karly Stache's three-pointer sparked a 7-2 North Greenville run to pull the Crusaders within 15-13 with 11:11 remaining before halftime.

Jones, who did a 360 in the lane for a Trojan layup during North Greenville's scoring run, hit a pair of three-pointers down the stretch as Mount Olive began to pull away. Joneiqua Gary's layup off of Webb's steal gave Mount Olive its first double-digit lead at 33-22 with 2:34 remaining.

North Greenville cut the margin back to single digits and had a chance to pull within seven or less, but Jones made a steal with three seconds left. Her 17-foot jumper rattled out at the buzzer and Mount Olive went into the locker room with a 35-26 halftime lead. The steal was Jones' fifth of the first half.

Jones' three-pointer with 15:17 left in the game pushed Mount Olive's lead back to double digits at 42-31. After an Alyssa Luebs' free throw, Nesmith's steal led to Webb's layup to extend the Trojans' lead to 45-31 with 14:44 left.

Mount Olive shot 34.4 percent (11-for-32) in the second half and committed 12 of its 19 turnovers after halftime, eight in the final 10 minutes.

Luebs and McDonald finished with eight points and eight rebounds apiece. McDonald dished out a team-high five assists, while Nesmith and Webb each had four assists. Nesmith also recorded four steals.

Friddle led North Greenville with 16 points on 8-for-14 shooting. Friddle pulled down six boards as the Crusaders outrebounded the Trojans 43-35.

Mount Olive returns to action Wednesday as the Trojans head to Hartsville, S.C., for a Conference Carolinas rematch against Coker. Mount Olive held off Coker 78-75 January 3 at Kornegay Arena in the two teams' conference opener. Coker was winless at the time of the first meeting, but has won four of its last five games. Tip-off is 5:30 p.m.