Trojan women fall at Belmont Abbey

By MOC Sports Information
Published in Sports on February 23, 2007 2:16 PM

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BELMONT -- Mount Olive junior forward Sierra Medeiros recorded her first double-double of the season season scoring 16 points and grabbing 11 rebounds as the Lady Trojans fell to Belmont Abbey on Thursday night, 69-57, at the Wheeler Center.

Mount Olive fell to 14-12 overall and 10-9 in the Carolinas-Virginia Athletics Conference.

Behind a hot-shooting offense that shot 47.2 percent from the floor and an opportunistic defense that held Mount Olive to 32.4 percent shooting, blocked four shots and forced 15 turnovers, the Belmont Abbey women's basketball team extended its winning streak to two games. The Abbey, which as now won three of its last four, improved to 11-14 overall and 8-11 in the CVAC.

Brittney Robich added 14 for Mount Olive while Helen Moore finished with 10 points.

The Crusaders were led by sophomore center Amy Mulnix, who poured in 12 points on 6-10 shooting from the field to go along with six rebounds and a blocked shot. Sophomore guard Marie Marquez added 11 points, four rebounds and four assists, and freshman forward Hannah Lunt added nine points, 10 rebounds and a pair of blocked shots.

Belmont Abbey opened the game on a 5-2 run before the Lady Trojans would go on a 6-0 mini-run to take its first lead at 8-5. The lead would see-saw back and forth before the Crusaders, down 23-19 with 7:53 left, pulled away for good on a 16-2 run to build a lead it would never lose again for the contest.

Freshman guard Courtney Naquin pulled the Abbey within one with a three-pointer, followed by another by Sarah Reese which gave the Abbey the lead for good at 25-23 with 5:13 left in the half. The Crusaders would increase the advantage to as high as ten points at 35-25 with 2:50 left, but Mount Olive would score the last six points of the stanza to trim the lead to 35-31 at the break.

Mount Olive scored the first basket of the second half to cut the lead to two, but layups by Lunt and Kelsey Daniel pushed it to six. A Lady Trojans layup and three-pointer closed the lead to one, but the Abbey pulled away on a 12-4 run to widen the gap to 52-42 with 8:56 left in the game. Mount Olive would answer with am 8-2 run to inch within four at 54-50 with 5:15 left, but the Crusaders would respond with a 9-1 run to take its largest lead of the contest, 12 points, at 63-51 with 1:08 left.

Five of those nine points came from the free throw line, as Marquez made three consecutive free throws sandwiched around a pair by Lunt. From there, Mount Olive never cut the lead to fewer than nine as the Abbey cruised home with a 69-57 win.

Mount Olive will be back in action on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. as the Lady Trojans host defending CVAC champion Anderson (S.C.) College in their regular-season finale.

Senior Tilah Worthy will be honored prior to the start of the game. By virtue of Thursday's results, Mount Olive, which had already clinched the No. 5 seed earlier this week, is assured of playing at No. 4 seed St. Andrews on Wednesday in the quarterfinal round of the CVAC Tournament.

Belmont Abbey plays again Saturday night when it closes out the regular season at home against in-state rival Queens University of Charlotte.