BRISTOL, Tenn. (Nov. 26) – Despite holding a double-digit lead in the third quarter, the Trojans were unable to prevent a late comeback on Tuesday afternoon in a 67-63 loss at King in Conference Carolinas play.
With the loss, the University of Mount Olive women's basketball program suffers a third-straight loss to fall to 1-4 overall behind a 0-2 mark in league action. King snaps a two-game skid in the series against UMO, including its first home win since 2022. Meanwhile, the Tornado improve to 2-4 this season with a 1-0 record in conference play.
Senior
Alexis Durham produced her first 20-point performance with the Trojans after scoring a game-high 22 points on 7-of-15 shooting with a trio of three-pointers. Additionally, she added four rebounds, two assists, and one steal in 36 minutes. Freshman
Janna Tupuola contributed 12 points, six rebounds, one assist, and one block in 26 minutes. Junior
Madison Butler finished with seven points, four rebounds, one assist, and one steal in 14 minutes off the bench. Junior
Keri Cooper tallied four points, seven rebounds, two blocks, and two steals in 19 minutes.
King built an early 7-6 advantage at the 5:06 mark of the first quarter before the Trojans rallied by scoring eight of the next 10 points, led by Butler with six points, to take a 14-9 lead. The Tornado closed the gap to 14-13 with 32 seconds left, but UMO hit a free-throw in the final seconds to hold a 15-13 edge following the first quarter. In the second, King tied the contest at 20-20 at the midway point of the quarter before UMO mounted a 10-4 run behind a pair of three-pointers to take a 30-24 advantage into the break.
Mount Olive made 5-of-10 from the field in the initial five minutes of the third quarter, Durham and Tupuola combined for nine points to stretch the lead to 44-29. King rallied in the closing minutes of the quarter with an 11-4 run to trim the deficit to 48-40 heading into the fourth. The Tornado totaled 10 unanswered points to begin the final quarter to claim a 50-48 edge at the 7:03 mark. The Trojans responded with four consecutive points to regain a 52-50 lead, but King stormed back with a 9-2 rally to hold a 59-54 advantage with 2:14 to go. Mount Olive cut the deficit to 62-60 with 21 seconds left before the Tornado secured the win at the free-throw line, 67-63.
UMO shot at a 35.6 clip (21-of-59) from the floor while going 7-of-17 (41.2 percent) from three-point range. Meanwhile, King finished the game shooting 35.2 percent (19-of-54) and converted 25-of-41 (61.0 percent) from the charity stripe. The Tornado held a 43-39 rebounding advantage with 23 points off turnovers, while the Trojans scored 26 points in the paint.
The Tornado featured three players in double-figures, led by junior Jaelyn West with a team-high 18 points while adding five rebounds, two assists, and one steal in 34 minutes. Seniors Sarah Thompson and Mariya Williams each registered double-doubles in the victory on Saturday.
The Trojans return to Kornegay Arena on Saturday, Nov. 30, for a non-conference game versus Florida Southern with tip-off set for noon.
