MOUNT OLIVE, North Carolina - The University of Mount Olive women's basketball team defeated the Valkyries of Converse College 86-56 in Conference Carolinas action Tuesday afternoon. UMO improves to 15-4 overall and 12-3 in conference, while Converse falls to 3-20, 2-12. The game was also faculty/staff appreciation night as members of the UMO community were honored with the student-athletes prior to the game in a special ceremony. Photos of the ceremony can be found here.

INSIDE THE SCORE
Mount Olive took firm possession of the game scoring the first 15 points before Converse converted their first bucket at the 5:54 mark with a three-pointer. The lead for UMO continued to climb even greater as the Trojans piled on the baskets until once again a Valkyries three-pointer stopped the run at 28-6 with 47 seconds left in the quarter. Converse was able to score the last points of the opening quarter and take a substantial 20-point deficit into the second. 

In the second quarter, UMO kept their 20-point lead for the start until a CC three dropped the score to 36-18. However, once again Mount Olive bounced back and pushed home eight unanswered points to lead by 25. The new margin remained that way until the halftime break when the Trojan led by a score of 53-27.

The third quarter started in similar fashion for UMO as they scored five unanswered and Converse struggled to close the gap. UMO continued to push more points than the Valkyries could answer with and their largest lead of the night 37 points, 77-40, into the final quarter.

The final quarter saw the least amount of offense from UMO (9) but the second-highest from Converse (16), but Mount Olive ended the game with a comfortable lead and took the 86-56 victory.

MOUNT OLIVE LEADERS
The Trojans were led by Ivanda Hudjakova with 15 points. Jada Bacchus and Azariah Fields also had double-digit scoring performances with both adding 11 points. Mount Olive saw scoring from 14 of the 15 Trojans that touched the court Tuesday.

CONVERSE LEADERS
The Valkyries were led by Lindsey Hardon with a team-high 16 points. 

KEY MOMENT
The key moment of the game came in the first quarter when Mount Olive opened the game scoring 15 unanswered points en route to outscoring Converse 28-to-8 which gave UMO firm control of the game from the get-go.

UP NEXT
Mount Olive will hit the road to take on Emmanuel College in Franklin Springs, Ga. on February 1 at 2 p.m.