Trojan women roll past Lees-McRae

By Andrew Stevens
Published in Sports on February 14, 2009 11:21 PM

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MOUNT OLIVE -- Don't confuse Mount Olive's women with being difficult to please, they're simply hungry for more.

Minutes after blowing out Lees-McRae 70-48 on Saturday for a 14th consecutive win Trojans' head coach Wendy Lee and forward Jasmine Whitby had already turned their focus to finding ways to improve before Monday's meeting with Belmont Abbey.

"I think we've got a lot of good things going but each game we end the game still thinking about what we could have done better," Lee said. "The group doesn't just feel satisfied with a win. In the locker room there is excitement that we got a victory but I really think our minds are still on what we didn't do well. I think it keeps us focused and keeps us on task."

Lees-McRae (7-16, 5-13 Carolinas) took an early 8-0 lead while holding Mount Olive scoreless for more than five minutes. Tomeka Prichard's 3-pointer got the Trojans on the board and LaPorsha Davis' layup tied the game at 15-15 just over six minutes later. Prichard scored 11 of her team-high 16 points in the first half.

Mount Olive (20-3, 16-2) closed the first half on a 17-4 run while the Bobcats went without scoring during the final 6:38 of the opening half. The Trojans took a 25-19 lead into the break.

"You can start flat and Lees-McRae hit a lot of shots early," Lee said. "I feel like usually what needs to happen is you need to hit a basket. Once we hit a shot we loosened up. It just took a while."

Prichard, Whitby and Brittany Robich each drained 3-pointer's during Mount Olive's 17-3 run to open the second half that stretched the lead to 42-22 and all but finished off Lees-McRae.

Whitby finished with 15 points and 13 rebounds and Robich added 12 points.

"In the first half my offense wasn't going but I just figured I needed to stay on the boards and do something productive to help the team out," Whitby said. "In the second half stuff just started opening up for me and I got a lot of good shots under the basket and people fouled me and I made some free throws. I knew once we had that run in the second half it was over."

Trojans' forward Helen Moore returned to the court for the first time since Dec. 17 after missing time due to an injury. The junior from Kenly contributed six points in a little less than seven minutes of playing time.

"We're still a little tentative about the minutes Helen can play and the strength of her knee," Lee said. "She's a quality player and she's making us better in practice. We hope this is going to be a good addition in being able to bring her back."

The Bobcats' Ashley Holland led all scorers with 20 points.

Mount Olive hosts Belmont Abbey at 5:30 p.m. on Monday.