Lady Trojans' rally falls short

Published in Sports on January 31, 2006 2:15 PM

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LAURINBURG -- Mount Olive erased an early 10-point deficit and led by as many as nine points in the second half, but a late rally came up short as the Trojans fell to St. Andrews 76-74 in Carolinas-Virginia Athletics Conference women's basketball Monday.

Tomeka Prichard led the Trojans with a game-high 19 points, while Teneal Boone posted a double-double with 17 points and 13 rebounds.

Mount Olive (10-9 overall, 5-7 CVAC) trailed 22-12 with 10:43 left in the first half after St. Andrews (9-8, 7-5) ran off 10 unanswered points. Tomeka Prichard's three-pointer ended the Trojans' four-minute scoring drought and Meaghan Vanderhorst's 3-pointer completed the Trojans' own 10-0 run and tied the game with 5:38 left in the half.

After St. Andrews broke the tie on Karen Foggie's three-point play, Mount Olive ended the half on an 11-2 run, as Prichard's 3-pointer put the Trojans back on top.

Mount Olive thought it had a basket at the buzzer when Bokeeter Mozee found Boone alone under the basket. But the referee ruled the ball did not leave Boone's hand before time expired and Mount Olive settled for a 33-27 lead at halftime.

Mount Olive took its biggest lead of the game at 41-32 and still led 49-41 after Vanderhorst hit a layup with 12:50 left in the game. But St. Andrews chipped away at the lead and Ashley Mitchell's four-point play with 8:53 remaining tied the game 53-53.

St. Andrews took its first lead of the second half after Crista Henderson hit a pair of free throws to complete a 14-4 run and put the Knights on top 55-53. The lead would change hands five times in a span of less than 90 seconds, culminating in a three-pointer by Vanderhorst to give Mount Olive a 62-60 lead with 5:42 left in the game.

The lead changed hands three more times until Foggie's putback of her own missed shot with 3:36 remaining gave St. Andrews a 67-66 lead in the 15th and final lead change of the game.

St. Andrews led 74-70 with under a minute left and the ball, but Vanderhorst's steal led to Prichard's layup to pull the Trojans within a field goal with 32 seconds remaining.

Tamerial Coward hit a pair of free throws with 24 seconds left to give St. Andrews a 76-72 lead, but Alisa Jones' lay-in with 10 seconds remaining put the Trojans back within two. After a Mount Olive foul with 8.6 seconds remaining, Coward missed both free throws, giving the Trojans one last chance.

Corley drove the length of the court, but her runner in the lane wouldn't fall. She chased down her own rebound on the left baseline, but her 10-footer at the buzzer was blocked.

Corley narrowly missed her first career double-double with 12 points and eight assists, while Vanderhorst added 12 points and five assists. Jones, who played only three minutes in the first half after picking up her third foul, scored all of her eight points in the second half. Sierra Medeiros pulled down seven boards as the Trojans outrebounded St. Andrews 44-35.

Christa Henderson scored 11 of her 16 points in the second half to lead four St. Andrews players in double figures. Coward finished with 13 points, including 7-for-10 from the free throw line. Foggie added 10 points and Jessy Perkins scored 10 points off the bench.

Both Mount Olive and St. Andrews were held under 35 percent shooting in the first half, but both teams shot over 50 percent from the field in the second half.

Mount Olive won the first meeting 78-64 in December at Kornegay Arena. Monday's loss was the Trojans' third in a row.

Mount Olive is off until Saturday when the Trojans head to Anderson, S.C., to take on conference leader Anderson in CVAC action. Tipoff is 2 p.m.

MOC Sports Information