FRANKLIN SPRINGS, Ga. (Mar. 3) – After being outscored in the second half by 19 points, the University of Mount Olive women's basketball team was eliminated by No. 8 seed North Greenville by a 67-42 margin in the opening round of the Atlantic Casualty Conference Carolinas Women's Basketball Championships on Sunday evening.
With the loss, the Trojans concluded the season with an 8-19 overall record while registering a 6-12 mark in conference play this season. Mount Olive suffers back-to-back losses to NGU for the first time since 2018 but still holds a 15-6 record in the series since 2012. Meanwhile, the Crusaders advance to play No. 5 seed Emmanuel in the second round, tomorrow, Monday, March 4, at 5 p.m.
Senior
Reagan Hune finished with a career-high 13 points on 6-of-12 shooting while adding four rebounds, one assist, one steal, and one block in 29 minutes. Sophomore
Laila Anderson reached double-figures with 10 points and tallied six rebounds in 33 minutes on the court. Juniors
Dominique Pacheco and
Alexis Durham each contributed six points, respectively.
The Trojans made three-of-five from the field in the opening minutes of the first quarter to take a 7-3 edge at the 6:54 mark. North Greenville countered with five unanswered points before both sides went scoreless for the next four straight minutes. The Crusader scored eight of the final 12 points of the first to hold a 16-11 edge. Mount Olive reclaimed the lead at the 6:21 mark of the second following an 8-2 run before the contest would be tied twice after the midway point of the quarter, 23-23. NGU closed out the first half of play with six straight points to hold a 29-23 lead at the break.
In the third quarter, the Crusaders quickly stretched the advantage to double-digit points, 35-25, after scoring six of the initial eight points. After a made free-throw from Hune, North Greenville mounted a 16-2 run, which included a perfect nine-of-nine shooting from the line, to take a significant 51-28 lead. UMO responded with seven straight points to cut the deficit to 51-35 heading into the final 10 minutes. The Trojans closed the gap to 53-40 early in the fourth, but North Greenville finished the game with a 14-2 run to secure the win, 67-42.
UMO shot at a 30.4 clip (17-of-56) from the floor while going just 3-of-23 (13.0 percent) from beyond the arc. Meanwhile, NGU finished the game shooting 44.4 percent (20-of-45) and converted 21-of-25 (84.0 percent) from the free-throw line. The Crusaders held a 34-25 rebounding advantage with 16 second-chance points, while the Trojans registered 22 points in the paint.
