CHARLESTON, SC – UNC Greensboro couldn’t overcome a 13-point first-half deficit falling to Southern Conference rival College of Charleston 73-61 in women’s basketball action at John Kresse Arena Monday afternoon.
UNCG was led by Kristen Boone who had 14 points and KaLeah Latham who pulled down 11 rebounds
“This was a win that we really needed to have,” head coach Lynne Agee said. “We didn’t do a very good job of maintaining our focus from beginning to end today and dug ourselves too big of a hole. We have another game on Saturday and we’ve got to become a better basketball team before then.”
The Spartans shot 22-of-71 from the floor and had 47 rebounds in the loss.
College of Charleston was led by Nikki Williams who had 23 points, including six three-pointers.
UNCG came out in the second half cold from the floor, hitting just two field goals in the half's first nine minutes.
Charleston was able extend their lead to 45-29 behind back-to-back buckets from Erika Smith at the 15:41 mark. The Spartans began to find their offense midway through the half behind a layup from Kemena Brooks and a three-pointer by Kristen Boone, cutting the lead to 57-39 with eight minutes remaining.
UNCG went on a 6-3 run to get deficit down to 63-50 with 3:34 remaining and cut it down to nine points with just over a minute remaining but couldn’t overcome its large halftime deficit, dropping its first conference game this month.
The Spartans came out of the gate slowly, allowing Charleston to rattle off the game's first four buckets, but Jasmine Byrd got UNCG back In the game with a three-pointer through the right side. Charleston responded by hitting back-to-back buckets to take an early 5-4 lead, but the Spartans got themselves back in the game with buckets by KaLeah Latham, Kristen Boone and Meghan Chamberlain to take a seven point lead with just under
UNCG picked up its defensive pressure and jumpstarted the offense by going on an 8-4 run to take an 18-12 lead with just under 12 minutes left in the half. Charleston wouldn’t be discouraged and hit a three-pointer out of a media timeout to cut the lead to 18-15 and got it down to one point at the midway point of the half.
The Cougars rattled off five unanswered buckets to storm to a 25-18 lead with just over eight minutes remaining in the half, including back-to-back three-pointers, another three-pointer by Natalie Williams pushed the lead to 10 points, 28-18 at the 7:20 mark.
UNCG went stone could from the floor in the final minutes of the half, going almost nine minutes without a field goal and allowing Charleston to jump out to a 32-18 lead before a free throw by KaLeah Latham snapped the drought. UNCG was able to score eight more points but couldn’t stop the Cougars who led 40-27 at halftime.
The Spartans return to Fleming Gymnasium Saturday, Jan. 20 when they take on backyard rival Elon. Senior guard Jasmine Byrd will be honored before the game for scoring her 1,000th point during the Furman game on Jan. 6. Tip-off is set for 3 pm.
AGATE
COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON 73, UNC GREENSBORO 61
UNC GREENSBORO (11-8, 4-3)
Boone, Kristen 4-15 4-5 14; Latham, Kaleah 5-10 1-2 11;
Chamberlain, Meghan 3-7 2-2 8; Otamiri, Irene 2-8 3-4 8; Byrd,
Jasmine 2-12 0-0 6; Grimsley, Gini 2-7 0-0 5; Dixon, Jasmine 2-2
0-0 4; Frazier, Brittany 1-2 0-4 2; Brooks, Kemena 1-8 0-0 2; Ling,
Ashley 0-0 1-2 1; Hyson, Lakiah 0-0 0-0 0.Totals 22-71 11-19
61.
COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON (9-8, 5-2)
WILLIAMS, Nikki 8-12 1-2 23; HUGHES, Jade 5-8 5-7 16; SMITH, Erika
4-12 3-511; FURSTENBURG, Jill 4-12 1-4 10; CHAMBERS, Melissa 1-1
2-2 4; SCOTT, Ashley 0-5 4-5 4; JONES, Deidra 1-2 1-2 3; WILLIAMS,
Christina 1-1 0-0 2;MOYE, Sarah 0-1 0-0 0; WILLIAMS, Erica 0-0 0-0
0. Totals 24-54 17-27 73.
Halftime: Charleston, 40-27. 3-point goals--UNC Greensboro 6-23 (Byrd, Jasmine 2-4; Boone, Kristen 2-6; Otamiri, Irene 1-3; Grimsley, Gini 1-5; Brooks, Kemena 0-3; Latham, Kaleah 0-2), College of Charleston 8-16 (WILLIAMS, Nikki 6-9; HUGHES, Jade 1-3;FURSTENBURG, Jill 1-4). Fouled out--UNC Greensboro-Otamiri, Irene, Collegeof Charleston-None. Rebounds--UNC Greensboro 47 (Latham, Kaleah 11), Collegeof Charleston 40 (SCOTT, Ashley 7; SMITH, Erika 7). Assists--UNC Greensboro11 (Boone, Kristen 6), College of Charleston 15 (HUGHES, Jade 4; CHAMBERS, Melissa 4). Total fouls--UNC Greensboro 23, College of Charleston 17.Technical fouls--UNC Greensboro-None, College of Charleston-None. A-388
- UNCG -