DAVIDSON, NC - Kristen Boone's slashing layup with 34 seconds left in overtime gave UNC Greensboro a 63-62 victory over Davidson in Southern Conference women's basketball action Saturday afternoon at Belk Arena.
Sophomore guard Kemena Brooks led UNCG (10-9, 6-4 SoCon) with a career-high 17 points on 7-of-8 shooting off the bench. Junior forward Kaleah Latham had her fourth career double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds, while Boone had 10 points, five rebounds, five assists and three steals in leading the Spartans to a season-best four-game winning streak.
Jessica Mitchell led all scorers with 22 points, one of her career-high. Janell Crayton and Tia Washington tossed in 13 and 10 points respectively for Davidson (10-9, 6-4 SoCon), who finds themselves tied with UNCG for second in the conference after suffering a second straight league loss.
It took UNCG 9:09 to erase a six-point halftime deficit, but when Brooks converted a layup at the 10:51 mark it gave the Spartans their first lead, 39-37, since it was 8-6 in favor of UNCG. The lead was shot lived though as Crayton scored five quick points to put the Wildcats up 42-39 just 46 seconds later.
Mitchell drilled a fall-away 3-ball at the 7:30 mark to give Davidson a 47-40 lead, but UNCG marched right back with seven straight to square the game at 47-47. It was a back-and-forth affair from that point on with five ties and eight lead changes.
Boone would score six-straight Spartan points for a 55-53 lead with 2:08 remaining. It stayed that way until Tia Washington grabbed a loose ball off a Mitchell 3-point attempt and score with 22 seconds left. Boone's running layup with three seconds left rimmed out and the Spartans went into overtime for the third time this season.
Danielle Hemerka drained a trey for Davidson to begin the extra session. Junior guard Jasmine Byrd gave UNCG a 61-60 lead on a 3-pointer of her own at the 1:58 mark. Washington then put the Wildcats back up top, 62-61, which set up Boone's heroics. The Upper Marlboro, MD native took the ball at the top of the key and cut to the right side of the basket and layed in the game-winner, giving UNCG its first win in overtime this season after dropping two earlier in the year.
A rather slow start to the game saw the visiting Spartans grab an 8-4 lead at the 14:33 mark, but Davidson tied it at 8-8 on a layup by Hemerka two minutes later. The Wildcats would take a 15-11 lead at the 7:11 mark on a 3-pointer by Mitchell.
Mitchell was not done though, scoring five straight points to extend Davidson's lead to 24-13 with 3:56 left until halftime. UNCG answered with a 9-2 run, fueled by six points from Brooks, to cut its deficit down to 26-22 with just over a minute left, before Davidson went into the locker room with a 28-22 lead. It marked the first time the Spartans had trailed at the half since January 9 at Georgia Southern.
UNCG shot just 32.0 percent (8-for-25) from the field in the first half, while Davidson converted 42.9 percent of its shots. The Spartans out-rebounded their opponent 21-15 in the opening 20 minutes, but committed 12 turnovers and made only 6-of-11 shots from the free throw line.
UNCG stays on the road to take on the conference-leading Chattanooga Lady Mocs on Monday at 7 pm in Chattanooga , TN. Meanwhile, Davidson takes on College of Charleston on Monday in Charleston , SC.
GAME NOTES: UNCG owns a 24-7 advantage in the all-time series... The Spartans had led at halftime in five straight games... It was the second straight year that UNCG and Davidson have played an overtime game... Last year, UNCG won 90-87 in double overtime at Fleming Gym... Davidson suffered only its second loss and first conference setback at home... UNCG is 4-1 on the road in conference... Kristen Boone has a steal in all 43 games of her career.
AGATE
UNC GREENSBORO 63, DAVIDSON 62
UNC GREENSBORO (10-9, 6-4 SoCon)
BROOKS, Kemena 7-8 2-2 17; LATHAM, KaLeah 5-7 2-5 12; BOONE,
Kristen 4-13 2-2 10; OTAMIRI, Irene 4-9 0-0 9; BYRD, Jasmine 3-12
1-1 8; CHAMBERLAIN, Meghan 0-3 5-10 5; DIXON , Jasmine 1-4 0-0 2;
BLAIR, Caroline 0-1 0-0 0; CURRENT, Ashley 0-1 0-0 0; GRIMSLEY,
Gini 0-3 0-0 0; LING, Ashley 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-61 12-20 63.
DAVIDSON (10-9, 6-4 SoCon)
MITCHELL, Jessica 8-19 2-2 22; CRAYTON, Janell 4-13 5-5 13;
WASHINGTON, Tia 5-6 0-0 10; HEMERKA, Danielle 4-9 0-0 9; KELLY,
Brynn 2-9 0-0 4; GASSIE, Kelly 2-6 0-0 4; NEALE, Kittery 0-2 0-0 0;
HALBERSLEBEN, Mandy 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 25-65 7-7 62.
Halftime: Davidson 28-22. Regulation: 51-51. 3-point goals-UNC Greensboro 3-15 (OTAMIRI, Irene 1-2; BYRD, Jasmine 1-6; BROOKS, Kemena 1-2; GRIMSLEY, Gini 0-3; BOONE, Kristen 0-2), Davidson 5-12 (MITCHELL, Jessica 4-8; HEMERKA, Danielle 1-3; NEALE, Kittery 0-1). Fouled out--UNC Greensboro -None, Davidson-None. Rebounds-UNC Greensboro 45 (LATHAM, KaLeah 10), Davidson 37 (HEMERKA, Danielle 9). Assists-UNC Greensboro 15 (BOONE, Kristen 5), Davidson 21 (HEMERKA, Danielle 6). Total fouls-UNC Greensboro 9, Davidson 17. A-533.
- UNCG -