Mount Olive College - Lady Trojans fall below .500

Published in Sports on February 7, 2006 2:20 PM

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MOUNT OLIVE -- Teneal Boone (15 points, 12 rebounds) and Keona Corley (10 points, 10 assists) both recorded double-doubles, but a late rally came up short as Mount Olive fell to regionally sixth-ranked Barton 75-68 in Carolinas-Virginia Athletics Conference women's basketball Monday at Kornegay Arena.

"We can see growth as a team in certain areas. We continue to fight hard, and we played a good team close down the stretch," said Mount Olive coach Wendy Lee, who's team lost 64-43 earlier this season to the Lady Bulldogs. "We didn't take advantage of some key opportunities and missed some shots that were crucial. When you play a team like Barton close, you can get some consolation from it, but we wanted to win."

Jo Denevan led four Barton players in double figures with a game-high 17 points and Keauna Vinson posted a double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds for the Bulldogs.

Mount Olive (10-11 overall, 5-9 CVAC) trailed by as many as 10 points early in the first half, but Tilah Worthy hit a three-pointer and Sierra Medeiros converted driving layups on consecutive possessions to cap a 7-0 run and pull the Trojans within 12-9 with 14:45 left in the first half.

After Barton (17-5, 13-2) extended the lead to 23-15, Mount Olive scored the next eight points as Tomeka Prichard's length-of-the-court pass found Keona Corley with the tying layup.

The tie was short-lived as Veronica Johnson's three-pointer sparked a 6-0 run and Barton went on to build the lead to 35-27 with 2:26 left before halftime. But Meaghan Vanderhorst's lay-up with 1:40 remaining sparked a late run and the Trojans pulled within 37-33 at the break. Corley dished out assists on five of Mount Olive's last six baskets in the first half.

The Trojans tied the game 39-39 after baskets by Boone and Prichard, but Kim Butts hit a pair of free throws to put Barton back on top and the Bulldogs built the lead to 50-42 with 14:56 left in the game. Mount Olive got as close as two as Tomeka Prichard's three-pointer highlighted a 6-0 run. Prichard extended her streak to nine consecutive games with a three-pointer.

Barton pushed its lead back to double digits as back-to-back baskets by Candice Britton gave the Bulldogs a 66-56 lead with 5:50 left in the contest. Ebony Green then sparked another 6-0 run for Mount Olive, finding Boone underneath the basket for a layin, then intercepting a pass and finding Corley just beyond midcourt for a fastbreak layup to pull the Trojans within 68-64 with 3:28 remaining.

Mount Olive had an opportunity to cut the lead to two, but the Trojans were called for an offensive foul. Barton kept Mount Olive in the game by missing five consecutive free throws in the final two minutes, but the Trojans were unable to capitalize and Barton held on to hand Mount Olive its fifth consecutive loss.

"I'm hoping the lessons we've learned from the wins and losses will pay off for us, and the players will keep the right attitudes and we'll put ourselves in a good position in the tournament here at home," Lee said. "Hopefully we'll get the wins at the end of the season that will matter the most."

Mount Olive also placed four players in double figures as Medeiros and Vanderhorst added 11 points apiece. The double-double was the first ever for Corley, who reached double figures in assists for the third time this season. Boone's double-double was her 10th of the season. Boone also recorded four blocked shots.

The Trojans shot 55.6 percent (30-for-54) from the field, but hurt themselves with 32 turnovers.

"A lot of the turnovers can be attributed to their pressure. They force a lot of teams to a lot of turnovers," Lee said. "We also created more pressure in our minds, and it caused us to make some bad decisions. Some of them were unforced where we panicked and didn't do what we needed to do to keep the ball in play."

Butts finished with 14 points for Barton, while Anjessa Evans added 12 points. Vinson nearly pulled off a triple-double with eight steals.

Mount Olive was 5-for-8 from the free throw line, while Barton was 13-for-29. Rebounds were even at 38 apiece.

Mount Olive is off until Saturday when the Trojans play host to Queens in a CVAC match-up. The game is part of Mount Olive's campus-wide celebration of National Girls and Women in Sports Day, during which current and former Trojan female student-athletes will be recognized. Tip-off is 2 p.m. at Kornegay Arena.

Barton plays host to Erskine Saturday at 5:30 p.m.

BARTON (17-5, 13-2)

Keauna Vinson 6 0 2-11 14, Anjessa Evans 5 0 2-2 12, Jo Denevan 7 0 3-4 17, Kim Butts 5 0 4-8 14, Candice Britton 2 0 2-4 6, Veronica Johnson 1 2 0-0 8, Sara Fleming 1 0 0-0 2, Aleesha Erb 1 0 0-0 2. TOTALS -- 28 2 13-29 75.

MOUNT OLIVE (10-11, 5-9)

Ebony Green 2 0 0-0 4, Teneal Boone 7 0 1-1 15, Tomeka Prichard 1 2 0-0 8, Keona Corley 5 0 0-1 10, Anita Rogers 1 0 0-0 2, Meaghan Vanderhorst 4 0 3-3 11, Tilah Worthy 0 1 0-0 3, Brittney Robich 1 0 -0 2, Alisa Jones 1 0 0-1 2, Sierra Medeiros 5 0 1-2 11. TOTALS -- 27 3 5-8 68.

Halftime -- BC 37, MOC 33. 3-point goals -- BC 2-11 (Butts 0-1, Johnson 2-2, Walker 0-2), MOC 3-5 (Prichard 2-2, Vanderhorst 0-2, Worthy 1-1). Rebounds -- BC 38 (Vinson 13), MOC 38 (Boone 12). Assists -- BC 13 (Vinson 4), MOC 18 (Corley 10). Steals -- BC 18 (Vinson 8), MOC 9 (Boone 3, Corley 3). Blocked shots -- BC 1 (Butts), MOC 7 (Boone 4). Turnovers -- BC 19, MOC 32. A -- 372.

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