GREENSBORO, NC – UNC Greensboro withstood a late 11 point Cougar rally sparked by back-to-back three pointers by Jade Hughes to defeat College of Charleston, 70-61 in women’s basketball action at Fleming Gymnasium on Monday evening. The win gives UNCG its fourth consecutive win and extends its current home win streak to two games.
The Spartans had four players in doubles-figures and was led by senior Jasmine Byrd who tallied 23 points on 8-of-16 shooting from the field. Irene Otamiri, Kristen Boone and Brittany Frazier were all in doubles figures for the second consecutive game and Frazier posted her second consecutive double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Senior KaLeah Latham tallied a team-high 11 rebounds while Otamiri also tallied four steals. Sophomore Gini Grimsley dished out a career-high four assists in the victory.
“This was a pretty game in the first half, “head coach Lynne Agee said. “We came out and played very well in the first half, we were able to find each other and do the things that we needed to do to put ourselves ahead. I think we hit a bit of a wall in the second half but we did manage to regroup and buckle down when we needed to in order to pull out the win.”
College of Charleston (10-16, 5-10) was led by Jade Hughes who scored 21 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the floor. Hughes was also 3-of-6 from behind the arc and Sarah Moye pulled down a game-high 14 rebounds.
Charleston opened the second half by forcing three consecutive UNCG turnovers which led to six Charleston points cutting the UNCG lead to 35-24 at the 18:45 mark of the half. Otamiri provided the spark that UNCG needed to regain some momentum and on the next possession, she forced a College of Charleston turnover and hit a bucket in the paint to push the lead back to 13 points.
UNCG then went on a 12-2 run over the next three minutes to extend its lead to 47-26 at the 15:58 mark and a layup by Jasmine Dixon gave the Spartans their largest lead of the afternoon at 23 points. Charleston was able to find their offense midway through the half and the Cougars went on a 22-10 run over the next seven minutes to cut the lead to 11 points with less than six minutes to go.
The teams traded buckets on the next few possessions but the Spartans saw Charleston mount another run, this time sparked by back-to-back three-pointers by Hughes, which cut the lead to 62-57 with 1:26 left in the game. UNCG, who had missed five consecutive free throws late in the game, sealed the win from the line by hitting their last eight free throws en route to its fourth consecutive victory.
UNCG shot 45.6 percent from the field on 26-of-57 shooting and grabbed 43 rebounds, including 29 defensive boards.
The Spartans started the game quickly by jumping out to a 10-3 lead in the games first five minutes of play. Frazier got things started with a bucket in the paint on the first possession and her teammates responded with four unanswered buckets.
College of Charleston got their first field goal of the half at the 15:45 mark with a three-pointer by Nikki Williams but it was all UNCG the rest of the way as the Spartans went on a 13-5 run to push their lead to 27-5 at the 7:16 mark.
UNCG held College of Charleston’s leading scorer Jade Hughes to just two points in the games first 13 minutes, but College of Charleston found some offense late in the half and scored six points to cut the lead to 33-13 with just under three minutes left in the half. The Cougars went on a 5-2 run in the final two minutes of the half and were able to cut the Spartan’s halftime lead to 35-18.
UNCG shot 48.4 percent from the floor in the first half and shot 30.8 percent from behind the arc. Byrd was 4-of-10 from three-point range in the first half.
The Spartans hit the road next when they head to Elon, NC, to take on backyard rival Elon Feb. 17. Tip is scheduled for 2 pm.
AGATE
UNCG 70, COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON 61
COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON (10-16, 5-10)
HUGHES, Jade 7-12 4-4 21; CHAMBERS, Melissa 5-12 0-0 10; SCOTT,
Ashley 2-5 2-3 6; MOYE, Sarah 3-10 0-0 6; SMITH, Erika 1-6 4-4 6;
WILLIAMS, Nikki 1-9 0-0 3; JONES, Deidra 0-0 3-4 3; WILLIAMS,
Christina 0-2 2-2 2; KOTCELLA, Brooke 0-3 2-2 2; FURSTENBURG, Jill
0-4 2-2 2; WILLIAMS, Erica 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 19-66 19-21 61.
UNCG (18-8, 11-4)
Byrd, Jasmine 8-16 2-4 23; Boone, Kristen 2-6 7-9 11; Frazier,
Brittany 5-9 0-0 10; Otamiri, Irene 4-7 2-3 10; Dixon, Jasmine 3-5
2-5 8; Latham, Kaleah 4-9 0-0 8; Grimsley, Gini 0-2 0-0 0; Ling,
Ashley 0-1 0-0 0; Brooks, Kemena 0-2 0-0 0; Hyson, Lakiah 0-0 0-0
0. Totals 26-57 13-21 70.
Halftime: UNCG 35-18. 3-point goals--College of Charleston 4-16 (HUGHES, Jade 3-6; WILLIAMS, Nikki 1-6; KOTCELLA, Brooke 0-1; FURSTENBURG, Jill 0-2; CHAMBERS, Melissa 0-1), UNCG 5-16 (Byrd, Jasmine 5-11; Boone, Kristen 0-1; Otamiri, Irene 0-1; Latham, Kaleah 0-1; Grimsley, Gini 0-1; Brooks, Kemena 0-1). Fouled out--College of Charleston-FURSTENBURG, Jill, UNCG-None. Rebounds—College of Charleston 42 (MOYE, Sarah 14), UNCG 43 (Latham, Kaleah 11). Assists--College of Charleston 11 (HUGHES, Jade 4), UNCG 14 (Ling, Ashley4). Total fouls--College of Charleston 19, UNCG 17. Technical fouls—College of Charleston-None, UNCG-Byrd, Jasmine. A-556
- UNCG -