November 6, 2010

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Monique Floyd led UNCG with 17 points and 10 rebounds and the Spartans rallied from a four-point deficit in the final two minutes to down Winston-Salem State in an exhibition game Saturday, 55-52.

North Carolina Central transfer Jasmine Newkirk's layup with 9:05 left in the contest put the Lady Rams on top for the first time since the first half at 45-44. WSSU would run its lead up to four points at 52-48 with 2:13 left before the Spartans poured it on down the stretch.

A Floyd layup with two minutes left made it 52-50, and sophomore Dayshaun Richbow's jumper with 1:38 left tied it. Richbow then stole the ball and fed Floyd for the go-ahead layup with 1:23 to play.

Neither team would score for more than a minute, but Richbow came up with a pair of big offensive rebounds in the last 31 seconds to help the Spartans salt away the win, grabbing boards on a missed Floyd 3-pointer and a missed Sarah Folwell free throw.

After Richbow's second offensive board, she kicked the ball to Kendra Smith, who was fouled. Smith hit the front of the one-and-one opportunity to make it a three-point spread at 55-52 with 15 seconds left.

The Lady Rams called timeout with 12.1 seconds left to draw up a final play, but UNCG defended it to perfection. With Floyd draped all over her, Newkirk could only chuck up an off-balance 3 that was well off the mark as time expired.

UNCG got quality minutes from its four freshmen on the afternoon, with guard Breonna Patterson contributing nine first-half points and forward Janae' Stevenson earning the start and pulling down six rebounds. Center Nneka Awuruonye scored eight points off the bench, while Colleen Nosovitch also saw eight minutes of action. All told, the freshmen scored 20 of UNCG's 55 points.

The Spartans led by as many as eight in the first half, posting their biggest lead on a three-point play from Patterson that made it 28-20 with four seconds left in the opening frame.

Floyd's 17 points and 10 rebounds were both game highs. She finished 8-for-12 from the floor and chipped in with four of UNCG's nine steals on the afternoon.

"That was an outstanding performance by a senior," UNCG coach Lynne Agee said about Floyd's effort. "Obviously, the goal when you play a game is to win, so we won the game. We played well in spurts. I was disappointed in our rebounding, or lack thereof, and I was disappointed in our free throw shooting, but I thought we had a decent effort."

UNCG outrebounded the Lady Rams 44-41 on the afternoon, but shot just 6-for-18 (.333) from the free throw line.

Newkirk led the Lady Rams with 16 points, while Rene Rector was also in double figures for WSSU with 11.

The Spartans officially open the 2010-11 campaign on Friday, Nov. 12, at Clemson. Opening tip is set for 5:30 p.m. in Littlejohn Coliseum.

AGATE
UNCG 55, WINSTON-SALEM STATE 52

WINSTON-SALEM STATE
NEWKIRK,Jasmine 6-15 1-1 16; RECTOR,Rene 3-7 3-5 11; MEDLEY,Courtney 3-10 1-2 7; WOODS,Vontisha 2-6 2-2 7; BRYANT,Eliza 2-4 0-0 4; MORSE,Chloe 2-5 0-0 4; PETERSON,Jordhan 1-2 0-0 2; WELLS,Taylar 0-3 1-2 1; SHEPHARD,Brenicia 0-2 0-0 0; BRADFORD,Corbin 0-1 0-0 0; WILSON,Jazmine 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 19-55 8-12 52.

UNCG
FLOYD, Monique 8-12 1-6 17; PATTERSON, Breonna 3-4 1-1 9; AWURUONYE, Nneka 3-6 2-4 8; SMITH, Kendra 2-7 1-2 6; RICHBOW, Dayshaun 2-5 0-0 5; FOLWELL, Sarah 1-6 0-1 3; STEVENSON, Janae' 1-7 1-4 3; WEAVER, Jazz 1-2 0-0 2; LEIGH, Amanda 1-9 0-0 2; CLAPPER, Amy 0-2 0-0 0; NOSOVITCH, Colleen 0-1 0-0 0; MORKUNAITE, Agneta 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 22-62 6-18 55.

Winston-Salem State...........   21   31  -   52
UNCG..........................   28   27  -   55

3-point goals--Winston-Salem State 6-20 (NEWKIRK,Jasmine 3-9; RECTOR,Rene 2-4; WOODS,Vontisha 1-1; WELLS,Taylar 0-1; MEDLEY,Courtney 0-5), UNCG 5-20 (PATTERSON, Breonna 2-3; RICHBOW, Dayshaun 1-2; SMITH, Kendra 1-3; FOLWELL, Sarah 1-6; LEIGH, Amanda 0-5; FLOYD, Monique 0-1). Fouled out--Winston-Salem State-None, UNCG-None. Rebounds--Winston-Salem State 41 (MEDLEY,Courtney 8), UNCG 44 (FLOYD, Monique 10). Assists--Winston-Salem State 12 (RECTOR,Rene 5), UNCG 13 (FLOYD, Monique 2; PATTERSON, Breonna 2; RICHBOW, Dayshaun 2; LEIGH, Amanda 2; SMITH, Kendra 2). Total fouls--Winston-Salem State 15, UNCG 14. Technical fouls--Winston-Salem State-None, UNCG-None. A-398

- UNCG -