CULLOWHEE, NC – Despite Monique Floyd's career-best 18 points and 10 points from Gini Grimsley, UNC Greensboro could not hold off Western Carolina on Saturday, falling 57-49 to see its losing streak reach seven games.
The Spartans (6-12, 3-6 Southern Conference) held a 27-24 halftime lead, but shot just 29.4 percent (10-for-34 ) in the second half to see the Catamounts (9-8, 5-4 SoCon) pull away late for the win.
Western Carolina put three players in double figures, led by Brooke Johnson's 15. Kristen Feemster had 14 and Emily Clarke added 13.
After coming out of the locker for the second half with the lead, UNCG extended its advantage to five points at 35-31 on a Floyd layup with 18:06 to play, but saw WCU put together a 13-6 run over the next six minutes to take its first lead of the game. Feemster had six points in the run, including the go-ahead basket.
A Grimsley jumper tied it at 39 with 11 minutes left to play, but Feemster's layup on a backdoor cut with 8:37 to play put the Catamounts back ahead to stay. A Kendra Carroll jumper and a Johnson layup made it a five-point spread with 6:25 to play, and UNCG would get no closer than four the rest of the way.
Kendra Smith's jumper pulled UNCG to within 51-47 with just over two minutes to play, but Johnson countered with a layup to get the WCU lead back to six. Floyd's layup on a Lakiah Hyson steal again made it a four-point game, but Western Carolina sealed the game at the free throw line, hitting all four of its attempts in the final minute.
UNCG got off to a dominant start, opening the contest on a 14-4 run. Floyd had eight of the Spartans' first 12 points, and finished the first half with 10 to extend her career-best streak in double figures to three games.
Clarke hit a jumper to get the Catamounts back within single digits, adding a three-point play and a pair of 3-pointers for a personal run of 11 straight WCU points that made it a three-point game at 18-15 with 6:20 to play in the opening frame.
A Dee Corbett layup and an Amanda Leigh jumper would push UNCG back ahead by seven, but Western answered with buckets from Feemster and Heather Swayne to keep it close. Leigh drained a 3 from the wing to push the Spartans' lead back to six before Kaila'Shea Menendez hit the front end of a one-and-one to get it back to five.
Hyson sank a pair of free throws to make it 27-20 before the Catamounts ended the half on a 4-0 run to make it just a three-point game at the break.
Sophomore TaShama Banner made her first career start for the Spartans, while redshirt sophomore Agne Girstautaite blocked a career-best four shots in the game, moving her into seventh place on UNCG's career list with 48 and putting her tied for sixth on the school's single-season chart.
The Spartans will look to break out of their season-worst slide on Monday, when they host Wofford at 3 p.m. at Fleming Gym.
AGATE
WESTERN CAROLINA 57, UNC GREENSBORO 49
UNC GREENSBORO (6-12, 3-6 SoCon)
Monique Floyd 8-13 2-4 18; Gini Grimsley 5-13 0-0 10; Amanda Leigh
3-10 0-0 7; Agne Girstautaite 2-4 0-0 4; Dee Corbett 1-4 2-2 4;
Lakiah Hyson 1-10 2-2 4; Kendra Smith 1-5 0-0 2; Ashley Mullins 0-3
0-0 0; TaShama Banner 0-1 0-0 0; Agneta Morkunaite 0-0 0-0 0.
Totals 21-63 6-8 49.
WESTERN CAROLINA (9-8, 5-4 SoCon)
Brooke Johnson 5-8 4-5 15; Kristen Feemster 6-11 2-2 14; Emily
Clarke 4-9 3-3 13; Kendra Eaton 2-6 0-2 4; Heather Swayne 2-6 0-0
4; Kendra Carroll 1-4 2-2 4; Jessica Jackson 0-2 2-2 2; Kaila'Shea
Menendez 0-2 1-3 1; Lauren Powell 0-7 0-0 0; Diamond Hunnicutt 0-0
0-0 0. Totals 20-55 14-19 57.
UNC Greensboro................ 27
22 - 49
Western Carolina.............. 24 33
- 57
3-point goals--UNC Greensboro 1-13 (Amanda Leigh 1-6; Gini
Grimsley 0-2; Lakiah Hyson 0-2; Kendra Smith 0-2; Ashley Mullins
0-1), Western Carolina 3-13 (Emily Clarke 2-3; Brooke Johnson 1-2;
Heather Swayne 0-3; Jessica Jackson 0-2; Kaila'Shea Menendez 0-1;
Lauren Powell 0-2). Fouled out--UNC
Greensboro-None, Western Carolina-None. Rebounds--UNC Greensboro 37
(Lakiah Hyson 7), Western Carolina 44 (Brooke Johnson 9).
Assists--UNC Greensboro 6 (Monique Floyd 2; Lakiah Hyson 2),
Western Carolina 12 (Jessica Jackson 5). Total fouls--UNC
Greensboro 22, Western Carolina 11. Technical fouls—UNC
Greensboro-None, Western Carolina-None. A-189
- UNCG -