November 26, 2005

GREENSBORO, NC – In the first meeting between the two schools, UNC Greensboro came out on top 69-52 over Ohio in the consolation game of the 2005 UNCG/Marriott Thanksgiving Tournament on Saturday afternoon at Fleming Gym. The win marks head coach Lynne Agee’s 475th victory at the helm of the Spartans women’s basketball program.

UNCG (1-2) junior Brittany Frazier followed up yesterday’s double-double performance with a game-high 14 points to go with seven rebounds and three blocks and junior Irene Otamiri added 12 points and four steals. Sophomore Kemena Brooks and junior KaLeah Latham tossed in 11 and 10 points respectively off the bench for the Spartans.

Katie Reihmann led Ohio (1-4) with 12 points, while Ciara Iglehart and Simone Redd added 11 and 10 points respectively for the Bobcats.

With a seemingly comfortable 34-17 lead for UNCG heading into the second half, the visiting Bobcats put together a 16-9 run over the opening 9:07 of the stanza to get to within 10 points, 43-33. Ohio would cut its deficit to eight points, 50-42, on a two free throws by Rachel Frederick, but that was the closest the Bobcats would get. UNCG went on a 12-3 spurt to take a 62-45 lead with 3:25 left in the contest and Spartans never looked back for their first win of the season.

Latham scored all 10 of her points in the second half.

Unlike yesterday when UNCG struggled with its shooting in the early going against Longwood, the Spartans went 6-for-11 from the field in the first seven minutes to take a 12-4 lead. Frazier keyed the hot-shooting with four mid-range jumpers.

Iglehart drained a 3-pointer to get Ohio to within five, 12-7, but UNCG rattled off a 10-2 run to take a 22-9 lead with 5:58 to go. Otamiri capped the run with a beautiful running jumper in the lane. Freshman Ashley Mullins maintained UNCG’s lead with a 3-pointer for a 27-14 advantage and later, classmate Gini Grimsley converted a fastbreak layup to give UNCG its largest lead off the half, 34-16, with under a minute to play.

UNCG outscored Ohio 22-6 in the paint and scored 14 points off 14 Bobcat turnovers in the first half. Frazier led the way with 11 points, while Otamiri had eight points.

UNCG will visit local rival High Point on Tuesday beginning at 7 pm in High Point, NC. Meanwhile, Ohio will host Western Illinois on December 3 at 1 pm.

GAME NOTES: Ashley Mullins drained her first collegiate basket at the 5:58 mark of the first half... UNCG avoided just its second 0-3 start in the NCAA era dating back to the 1981-82 season... UNCG is 2-0 all-time against Mid-American Conference members... UNCG improves to 55-16 over the last five years when they score more than 60 points.

AGATE
UNC GREENSBORO 69, OHIO 52

OHIO (1-4)
REIHMANN, Katie 4-9 1-1 12; IGLEHART, Ciara 3-9 5-5 11; REDD, Simone 5-7 0-1 10; REVESZ, Lauren 3-6 3-5 9; FREDERICK, Rachel 1-10 3-4 5; WARD, Quintana  1-6 0-0 2; JENKINS, KeyAuna 1-3 0-0 2; HMIEL, Lauren 0-3 1-2 1; MYERS, Chandra 0-0 0-0 0; HASHIVON, Vicky 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 18-54 13-18 52.

UNC GREENSBORO (1-2)
FRAZIER, Brittany 5-10 4-7 14; OTAMIRI, Irene 5-14 2-2 12; BROOKS, Kemena 2-6 6-6 11; LATHAM, KaLeah 3-7 4-4 10; GRIMSLEY, Gini 2-4 2-2 6; MULLINS, Ashley 2-3 0-0 5; JACKSON, Shanika 1-4 2-4 4; DIXON, Jasmine 1-2 1-2 3; LING, Ashley 0-3 2-4 2; CHAMBERLAIN, Meghan 1-1 0-0 2; BLAIR, Caroline 0-3 0-0 0; CURRENT, Ashley 0-1 0-0 0; BYRD, Jasmine 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 22-59. 23-31 69.

Halftime: UNC Greensboro 34-17. 3-point goals-Ohio 3-11 (REIHMANN, Katie 3-7; FREDERICK, Rachel 0-3; WARD, Quintana 0-1), UNC Greensboro 2-4 (MULLINS, Ashley 1-1; BROOKS, Kemena 1-1; JACKSON, Shanika 0-1; BYRD, Jasmine 0-1). Fouled out--Ohio-WARD, Quintana, UNC Greensboro-None. Rebounds-Ohio 37 (REDD, Simone 6), UNC Greensboro 44 (FRAZIER, Brittany 7; LATHAM, KaLeah 7). Assists-Ohio 8 (HMIEL, Lauren 3), UNC Greensboro 10 (OTAMIRI, Irene 3). Total fouls-Ohio 27, UNC Greensboro 14. A-143.

******

East Carolina rallies past Longwood to take UNCG/Marriott Thanksgiving Tourney title

GREENSBORO, NC – East Carolina outscored Longwood 46-23 in the second half to claim a 73-59 victory over the Lancers in the championship game of the 2005 UNCG/Marriott Thanksgiving Tournament Saturday afternoon at Fleming Gym.

Tournament MVP Cherie Mills paced East Carolina with 22 points and 10 rebounds in 33 minutes of play.  Ashley Mason, an all-tournament team selection for Longwood, led the Lancers with 14 points and six boards in a losing effort.

Longwood opened the first half with a 15-9 lead just under five minutes into the contest when Abbey Freese nailed a 3-pointer to give the Lancers a six point cushion.  East Carolina took a brief 17-15 lead midway through the period when LaToya Horton sunk a jumper from 10 feet out. 

The Lancers quickly regained the lead minutes later and extended their advantage to as many as 11 points on a jumper from Keiva Small with 19 seconds remaining in the half.  Mills connected on a jumper inside the paint just before the halftime buzzer to cut the Lancer lead to nine after the initial 20 minutes of play.

East Carolina stormed out in the second half and used a 14-4 run to take a 41-40 lead on a 3-pointer from LaCoya Terry just under five minutes into the second period.  After Longwood took a brief 50-48 lead on a layup by Cassandra Smith, East Carolina took the lead for good at 52-50 on a jumper by Impris Manning at the 9:40 mark

The Pirates held Longwood to 30.8 percent from the floor in the second half on 8-26 shooting.  The Lancers also failed to connect on a 3-pointer in the second half, shooting 0-for-5 to finish the contest.   

East Carolina also garnered tournament championship accolades in 1992 when the Pirates bested UNCG 76-59.

East Carolina will return to Greensboro to take on North Carolina A&T on Tuesday at 7 pm. Longwood will host William & Mary on Tuesday at 7 pm in Farmville, VA.

AGATE
EAST CAROLINA 73, LONGWOOD 59

EAST CAROLINA (2-1)
Mills, Cherie 9-15 4-4 22; Terry, LaCoya 6-8 2-2 15; Days, Nicole 4-5 2-4 10; Yong, Jasmine 4-6 2-5 10; Horton, LaToya 3-5 1-1 7; Slack, Jessica 1-5 0-0 3; Downey, Ebonee 1-1 0-0 2; Manning, Impris 0-6 2-2 2; Honesty, Jessica 0-2 2-2 2; Husarova, Gabriela 0-3 0-0 0; Coley, Catherine 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 28-56 15-20 73.

LONGWOOD (2-3)
Mason, Ashley 5-10 4-9 14; Smith, Cassandra 3-5 3-3 10; Steg, Anna 4-10 0-0 8; Small, Keiva 2-5 3-4 7; Wilkerson, Jessica 3-6 0-0 7; Sims, Amber 1-3 4-4 6; Mason, Amber 1-6 0-0 3; Freese, Abbey 1-2 0-0 3; Dyer, Courtney 0-4 1-2 1; Wandeu, Nadege 0-2 0-0 0; Mascherin, Leigh 0-1 0-0 0; Blevins, Claire 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-54 15-22 59.

Halftime: Longwood, 36-27. 3-point goals-East Carolina 2-5 (Slack, Jessica 1-2; Terry, LaCoya 1-1; Yong, Jasmine 0-1; Manning, Impris 0-1), Longwood 4-15 (Smith, Cassandra 1-3; Wilkerson, Jessica 1-2; Freese, Abbey 1-2; Mason, Amber 1-3; Dyer, Courtney 0-4; Mascherin, Leigh 0-1). Fouled out--East Carolina-None, Longwood-None. Rebounds-East Carolina 39 (Mills, Cherie 10), Longwood 31 (Mason, Ashley 6). Assists-East Carolina 15 (Yong, Jasmine 4; Days, Nicole 4), Longwood 12 (Mason, Amber 6). Total fouls-East Carolina 20, Longwood 18. A-160

- UNCG -