Mount Olive women defeat Limestone

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on December 5, 2010 1:51 AM

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MOUNT OLIVE -- Mount Olive unwillingly pieced together its second Conference Carolinas victory on Saturday evening.

The Trojans survived two scoring droughts, and upended Limestone (S.C.) 67-56 inside Kornegay Arena. The Saints (4-2) endured their first league loss of the season.

Senior Jasmine Whitby led three MOC players in double figures with a game-high 19 points. Senior point guard Shequanta McGee contributed 16, while Laporsha Davis provided 11.

Limestone's Kaileigh West just missed a double-double with 16 points and nine rebounds. Nastashia Mitchell supplied 12 points off the bench, while Bridget Ansbro chipped in 10.

"I think we just kind of gutted it out, to tell you the truth," said Trojans head coach Wendy Lee. "It could have gone either way. They played well in spurts and we played well in spurts. But we didn't really put together 40 minutes for me to feel like we had it in the bag at any point.

"We got some key stops at key times."

Mount Olive (3-3, 2-1 CC) toiled through a first-half scoring drought that lasted for nearly seven minutes. Limestone used a 9-0 run to help build an eight-point advantage that disappeared within a two-minute stretch.

Consecutive 3-pointers from Andrea Jones and back-to-back baskets from McGee in the paint created a 17-17 tie. The Trojans kept the momentum and entered halftime ahead 32-26.

Whitby's layup off an inbounds pass from Davis gave MOC its biggest lead, 36-26, nearly 2 1/2 minutes into the second half. But the Trojans went six minutes without a field goal and fell behind 37-36 on Tia Williams' 3-pointer around the 13-minute mark.

"That's been happening," said Lee of the cold-shooting stretches. "We've got to find a way to have people step up and not have it always be Jasmine Whitby."

The teams battled to five ties over the next five minutes before Whitby's 3-pointer gave MOC the lead for good, 50-49.

"Jasmine hit a couple of key baskets," said Lee.

McGee drained two free throws after getting fouled on a drive to the basket. Davis' reverse layup on the baseline increased the Trojans' lead to 54-49 with about five minutes left in regulation.

Limestone failed to respond to MOC's last offensive surge. The Saints committed costly turnovers against the Trojans' full-court press, and misfired on eight straight possessions.

Whitby's 3-pointer pushed the lead to 59-49, which forced the Saints to foul and stop the clock. The Trojans shot 16 of 20 from the free throw line in the second half and 18 of 26 for the game.

"We really just pieced (the game) together and we're trying to get where we can do it for 40 minutes," said Lee. "So, we're pleased with the victory, but we're not pleased having to piece it together."