Lady Trojans prevail

By Gabe Whisnant
Published in Sports on February 10, 2004 2:00 PM

• Print
• Email

MOUNT OLIVE -- Before taking to the road for five of its final seven regular season games, there was extra incentive for the Mount Olive women's basketball team to defend their home floor on Monday.

The Trojans gained some needed momentum heading into the road trip as they jumped out to a sizable lead early and maintained a 10-point lead for most of the second half in a 72-62 win at College Hall over Pfeiffer.

The victory also snapped a four-game losing streak overall and stopped a seven-game slide in Carolinas-Virginia Athletic Conference play. Mount Olive (8-12 overall) is now tied with Queens University of Charlotte in eighth place, both with 4-9 CVAC worksheets.

"We talked about these next few games are like starting a new season for us. We are kind of excited to be on the road, because the tournament will be on the road," Mount Olive coach Wendy Lawrence said. "This win was very important to get our confidence where it needed to be."

Mount Olive's three-game road stretch begins Thursday at Belmont Abbey.

The Lady Trojans overcame some unfortunate adversity Monday as the team's second leading scorer and top rebounder, Latoria Harvey, went down with an ankle injury midway through the first half after a put-back that put Mount Olive up 17-14.

Harvey was on her way to a solid game, scoring 10 points on five-of-five shooting and picking up two steals. Mount Olive starting guard LeeAnn Simms, who saw limited action Monday, is still nursing a knee injury.

Teneal Boone responded with a solid game in the post as she finished with 17 points and 12 rebounds, while playing all but one minute and 20 seconds of the game. Boone was aided by solid guard play from Ladora Charles, who posted 18 points, six assists and six rebounds.

Charles, along with Tanika Hudgins and Brandy Smith did a solid job finding Boone in the low post in Mount Olive's half-court offense through most of the game.

"Our post players have been doing well when they get the ball. We've really emphasized looking for the open man in the post, and I thought we did a good of that tonight," Lawrence said.

The Lady Trojans stormed out of the gate with a 15-2 run, capped by a Harvey basket on an assist from Charles at the 15:14 mark, only to see Pfeiffer answer with 12-0 run behind the strength of its outside shooting.

Emily Goad and Sarah Reese knocked down three-pointers during the spurt, while Jenny Volpicelli, who paced the Falcons with 18 points, drained a jumper that pulled the Falcons to within one at 15-14 in just under a four minute span.

Mount Olive's response was another run as the Lady Trojans reeled off 10 straight points paced by a couple of baskets each by Boone and Melanie Cobb.

The two first half runs seemed to deflate an out-manned Pfeiffer squad that dressed only eight players and was missing point guard and senior leader, Brooke Misenheimer, who was out due to a death in the family.

"They outrebounded us by 10 in the first half, but I thought in the second half we played harder and executed better," Pfeiffer coach Rob Brafford said. "We just didn't have the legs to get it done."

Smith, who added 10 points for Mount Olive, nabbed a steal and a lay-up at the 10:44 mark to give the Lady Trojans their biggest lead of the game at 55-37. Pfeiffer battled but never mounted a serious threat to Mount Olive's margin.

Boone scored 11 of her 17 points in the second half, while Charles tallied 12 of her 18 points after intermission.

"I was happy with how we fought hard. I thought down the stretch we were able to hold it together, execute our plays and make our free throws," Lawrence said.

Goad and Reese added 15 and 13 points, respectively for Pfeiffer.

MOUNT OLIVE (72)

Latoria Harvey 5 0 0-0 10, Teneal Boone 8 0 1-2 17, Ladora Charles 5 1 7-8 18, Tanika Hudgins 2 0 2-2 6, Brandy Smith 5 0 0-0 10, Shenetta Moye 1 0 0-0 2, Melanie Cobb 3 0 1-2 7, Tilah Worthy 1 0 0-0 2, LeAnn Simms 0 0 0-0 0, Darlisha Stanfield 0 0 0-0 0, Amber Hill 0 0 0-0 0.

PFEIFFER (62)

Alexis Anderson 2 0 2-2 6, Emily Goad 7 1 0-1 15, Bershalyn Bailey 1 0 4-4 6, Jenny Volpicelli 8 0 2-2 18, Sarah Reese 4 3 2-2 13, Kathryn Carswell 0 0 0-0 0, Beth Minton 1 0 0-0 2, Sherry Johnson 0 0 2-2 2.

Halftime -- Mount Olive 33, Pfeiffer 26. Three-point baskets -- Mount Olive 1-9 (Charles 1-4, Hudgins 0-2, Smith 0-3), Pfeiffer 4-13 (Reese 3-11, Goad 1-2). Rebounds -- Mount Olive 40 (Boone 12, Charles 6, Hudgins 6), Pfeiffer 30 (Goad 11, Bailey 6). Assists -- Mount Olive 15 (Charles 6, Hudgins 4, Smith 4), Pfeiffer 12 (Bailey 8). Turnovers -- Mount Olive 24, Pfeiffer 21. Blocked shots -- Mount Olive 3 (Boone 3), Pfeiffer 2. Steals -- Mount Olive 13 (Charles 4, Smith 3), Pfeiffer 13 (Bailey 4, Reese 3). Fouled out -- none. Technicals -- none.