GREENSBORO, NC – UNC Greensboro had three players in doubles figures with senior forward KaLeah Latham leading the way with 16 points as UNCG defeated backyard rival High Point, 63-53 in women’s basketball action at Fleming Gymnasium on Monday night.
Junior Kristen Boone and Jasmine Byrd had 11 points apiece while Latham added nine rebounds. The Spartans extended their homecourt win streak to 10 and head coach Lynne Agee picked up her 499th win as Spartan head coach.
High Point (5-4), who had a three-game win streak snapped, was led by Candyce Sellars who had a game-high 18 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the floor. Amber Manuel was the next leading scorer with nine points. Katie Ralls had seven rebounds to lead the Panthers.
“This was one of our best performances as a team,” head coach Lynne Agee said. “We’ve had to shuffle some people around and we really had some players step up and do what was necessary to get through tonight’s game.”
UNCG opened the second half with a 10-2 run to take a 40-30 point advantage at the 14:56 mark but High Point battled back with a run in the games final two minutes, outscoring UNCG 6-1 to cut the Spartans lead to four with just under a minute remaining in the half. Kristen Boone had a bucket in the paint with just under 30 seconds left to go and Latham sealed the game at the line with two free throws.
The Spartans shot 44.2 percent from the floor on 23-of-52 shooting and grabbed 40 rebounds, including 10 defensive boards. Junior forward Brittany Frazier led UNCG in shooting going 4-of-5 from the floor.
The Spartans started the game on an 11-4 run sparked by senior guard Jasmine Byrd’s three-pointer on UNCG’s first possession. UNCG led by as many as 14 points in the first half, but High Point answered with a run of their own late in the half. The Panthers outscored the Spartans 15-3 in the final minutes of the half to cut the Spartan lead to three points, as they took a 31-28 lead into the locker room.
UNCG had five turnovers in the last four minutes of the half to spark High Point's run late in the half.
“We didn’t do a great job of closing out the halves tonight,“ Agee said. “At the end of both halves we lost our focus a bit and let High Point get back in the game, luckily we we’re able to regain our focus to close out the game.”
The Spartan defense was solid forcing 18 High Point turnovers and coming up with 11 steals. UNCG held High Point’s leading scorer Leslie Cook, who came into the contest averaging better than 12 points per game, to only eight points.
UNCG, which now won 15 straight when holding opponents under 60 points, hosts Southern Conference foe Western Carolina on Wednesday. Tip off is set for 2 pm in Fleming Gymnasium.
AGATE
UNCG 63, HIGH POINT 53
HIGH POINT (5-4)
SELLARS, Candyce 8-16 0-0 18; MANUEL, Amber 4-7 1-2 9; COOK, Leslie
3-9 0-0 8; THYS, Caitlin 2-10 0-0 4; RALLS, Katie 2-5 0-0 4;
BROCKMYER, Erica 0-3 4-4 4; SAMUELS, Ashlee 1-6 0-0 2; THOMPSON,
Ayonna 1-12 0-0 2; TUCKER, Andrea 1-4 0-2 2; LONG, Jennifer 0-2 0-0
0; BENSON, April 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-74 5-8 53.
UNCG (6-3)
Latham, Kaleah 4-7 8-10 16; Boone, Kristen 4-7 3-4 11; Byrd,
Jasmine 4-10 1-2 11; Frazier, Brittany 4-5 1-4 9; Brooks, Kemena
3-5 0-0 7; Otamiri, Irene 2-7 0-0 4; Dixon, Jasmine 1-5 1-3 3;
Ling, Ashley 1-1 0-0 2;Chamberlain, Meghan 0-2 0-2 0; Grimsley,
Gini 0-2 0-0 0; Hyson, Lakiah 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 23-52 14-25 63.
Halftime: UNCG 31-28. 3-point goals--High Point 4-23 (SELLARS, Candyce 2-8; COOK, Leslie 2-6; RALLS, Katie 0-2; BROCKMYER, Erica 0-1; THOMPSON, Ayonna 0-6), UNCG 3-13 (Byrd, Jasmine 2-4; Brooks, Kemena 1-3; Otamiri, Irene 0-1; Dixon, Jasmine 0-1; Hyson, Lakiah 0-1; Boone, Kristen 0-2; Latham, Kaleah 0-1). Fouled out--High Point-RALLS, Katie, UNCG-None. Rebounds--High Point 49 (COOK, Leslie 7), UNCG 40 (Latham, Kaleah 9). Assists--High Point 11 (SELLARS, Candyce 4; RALLS, Katie 4), UNCG 11 (Byrd, Jasmine 3). Total fouls--High Point 21, UNCG 13. Technical fouls--High Point-None, UNCG-None. A-198
- UNCG -