Corley breaks own assist mark, sparks Trojans at home

By MOC Sports Information
Published in Sports on January 14, 2007 2:20 AM

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MOUNT OLIVE -- Keona Corley, who ranks fourth in the nation in assists, broke her own school record with 14 assists and scored 12 points as Mount Olive withstood a late rally to defeat Erskine (S.C.) University 80-71 in Carolinas-Virginia Athletics Conference play Saturday afternoon.

"Our offense is made for post plays and they made shots," explained Corley of her assists. "We just played as a team."

Helen Moore led four Trojans in double figures with 18 points.

Erskine was led by Audrey Timmerman, who scored 20 of her game-high 26 points in the second half to help the Flying Fleet cut a 22-point deficit down to four. The win was the second in a row for the Trojans.

"I think they played really good basketball in the second half, I just give all the credit to Erskine," said Mount Olive coach Wendy Lee. "They just made some adjustments at halftime that caught us off guard."

Mount Olive (6-7 overall, 3-4 CVAC) fell behind early, but steals by Corley and Tomeka Prichard led to fast break layups on consecutive possessions to help give the Trojans a 16-4 lead.

Corley, who leads the nation in steals, recorded six steals -- almost two above her average.

After Erskine pulled within single digits, Brittney Robich hit a pair of three-pointers to spark another Trojan run as Mount Olive extended its lead to 34-14 with 6:22 left in the first half.

The lead grew to as many as 21 points before Mount Olive settled for a 48-29 lead at halftime. Robich hit 4-of-5 three-pointers in the first half and scored 12 of her 14 points before intermission.

Sierra Medeiros scored Mount Olive's first six points of the second half and Moore's basket with 17:02 remaining gave the Trojans their biggest lead of the game at 56-34. Medeiros was the recipient of Corley's record-breaking 13th assist as her layup gave the Trojans a 62-41 lead with 14:58 left in the game.

Erskine (2-8, 2-5) narrowed the lead to 13 points as Timmerman hit three of her five second-half 3-pointers. Mount Olive built the lead to 70-53 with 9:42 remaining, but went more than four minutes without a field goal.

Timmerman ignited a run of 11 unanswered points with a three-point play and capped the run with a 3-pointer to pull the Flying Fleet within 71-67 with 5:35 left to play.

The contest remained a two-possession game in the final minute, but steals by Corley and Prichard, along with a block by Alisa Jones prevented Erskine from cutting into the Trojans' lead. Corley found Prichard for a three-pointer from the left corner with 16 seconds left to seal the win and cap Corley's new school record.