TIGERVILLE, South Carolina - The University of Mount Olive women's basketball team defeated the Crusaders of North Greenville University 64-59 in Conference Carolinas action Saturday afternoon. UMO improves to 12-4 overall and 9-3 in conference, while North Greenville falls to 5-10, 4-7.

INSIDE THE SCORE
North Greenville took the first points of the contest and Mount Olive was able to tie the set at six a few moments later. The Crusaders responded with an 8-0 run to take a 14-6 lead with under four to play. After NGU extended the lead to 10, Azariah Fields hit a jumper to spark a 7-0 run to end the quarter and deflate the Crusader lead to 20-17.

In the second quarter, the momentum shifted towards the Trojans as UMO opened the quarter with an 11-0 run to take a 28-20 lead. NGU stopped the run, but the offense did not completely get going as the Crusaders scored five points in a stretch of under two minutes and North Greenville was only able to score three more points for the remainder of the half. UMO took a 36-28 lead into halftime.

The third quarter saw the Crusaders begin to battle back by scoring the first seven points of the third to draw to within one. NGU eventually tied the game at 38 and went onto take the lead on four unanswered points. The third quarter was tied three more times before NGU took a 45-43 lead going into the fourth.

The final quarter was a dogfight as the frame was tied six times before the final minute of play. The Trojans made clutch shots in the final minute of play ending the game scoring five unanswered points to close the game out for the win.

MOUNT OLIVE LEADERS
The Trojans were led by Sherry Johnson with 14. Hope Toliver and Ivanda Hudjakova both had double-digit scoring performances with 12 and 11 points respectively.

NORTH GREENVILLE LEADERS
The Crusaders were led by Karen Donehew with a team-high 21 points. 

KEY MOMENT
The key moment of the game came in the final minute of the game when the Trojans were able to score the last five points and take the lead and hold off the Crusaders for the win.

UP NEXT
Mount Olive remains on the road to take on the Warriors of Southern Wesleyan University on January 20 at 2 P.M.