MOC Green-White game both competitive and intense
By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on October 26, 2010 1:46 PM
MOUNT OLIVE -- Welcome back, Jasmine Whitby.
The redshirt senior pumped in 25 points, and led the Mount Olive College "Green" team to a 70-61 victory over the "White" team during a women's basketball exhibition game at Kornegay Arena on Monday evening.
Whitby appeared fully recovered from a knee injury that sidelined her most of last season. The 5-foot-10 forward missed her first three shots from the floor and first two free throws before scratching in the scoring column about midway through the opening half.
When her uncontested 3-pointer swished the net, Whitby stayed in an offensive groove the remainder of the contest.
Thirteen Trojans scored at least one basket in the controlled scrimmage. Senior guard Laporsha Davis paced the White team with 22 points, while senior forward Brittany Miller knocked down 10.
Freshman forward Jessica Nelms and sophomore forward Andrea Jones added 12 and 11 points, respectively, for the Green squad.
"I was pleased with our overall effort, the energy was there," said MOC head coach Wendy Lee, who directed the Green team. "We've only had eight practices. I felt like everyone competed, even though it was each other and it's another practice, I thought they approached it with a 'win-all' mentality.
"They really went after it, and I like that because we've got a competitive group. Tonight's game was physical and they played to win."
Assistant coach Bryan Bagwell coached the White team. The coaches mixed up their offensive and defensive schemes, and also switched players' defensive assignments throughout the exhibition.
Lee said the team has struggled with its chemistry in practice and is currently seeking another ballhandler with Shequanta McGee out indefinitely. McGee suffered a broken jaw in a freak accident and Lee doesn't know when the senior point guard will return.
"Our offensive execution is not where it needs to be, and we've got to learn our plays," said Lee. "Defensively, I thought we might would have had better on-the-ball pressure and denied passes better because that's we're about. It was hard to evaluate that side of the game tonight because they were probably sub-consciously pacing themselves on the defensive end since there weren't many subs."
Mount Olive returns four starters off last year's team that compiled a 16-12 worksheet overall. The Trojans were picked to finish tied for second with Queens University-Charlotte in this year's Conference Carolinas preseason poll.
Lee's team collected three first-place votes and 79 points, while the Royals drew one first-place nod. Two-time defending regular-season champion Barton was selected first in the 11-team league.
"It's a very respectable position to be placed in and think it shows the other conference coaches have given us a lot of respect," said Lee. "The girls are not satisfied with that and don't consider it an honor. To them, they're not happy because they want to be the best team in the conference and is something we'll have to prove."