Mount Olive women dominate Erskine

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on January 23, 2011 1:51 AM

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MOUNT OLIVE -- Execution and energy.

The Mount Olive College women's basketball team, for the most part, carried out that game plan in an 80-49 thrashing of Erskine (S.C.) College on Saturday afternoon.

Andrea Jones poured in 20 points and Jasmine Whitby flirted with a double-double (10 points, nine rebounds) for the Trojans, who extended their winning streak to six games. Mount Olive (10-4 overall) captured its seventh Conference Carolinas win eight tries this season.

"I think our execution was kind of sporadic," said MOC head coach Wendy Lee. "When we face multiple defenses, that's going to be the nature of the game."

Erskine, which had its three-game win streak snapped, employed a variety of full- and half-court schemes to disrupt MOC's offensive flow. But the Trojans' aggressive nature on defense prevented the Flying Fleet from developing an offensive rhythm of their own.

Mount Olive held Erskine to 25-percent shooting from the floor, collected 22 points off 23 turnovers and finished with a 49-38 edge on the boards. The Flying Fleet managed just 18 points in the opening half.

""I like that we stuck with our defense and didn't let up because we had a decent lead," said Lee. "At times, I thought we still really worked hard on defense to make things difficult for them to get shots. That is probably the difference in the game."

The Flying Fleet (5-9, 3-4 CC) hung around during the early stages of the game. The Trojans misfired on several possessions underneath the basket until Jones provided an offensive spark.

The sophomore guard buried a 3-pointer in transition and converted a traditional three-point play to push MOC's advantage to 24-10. Jones knocked down seven field goals, including four from behind the 3-point arc, in 22 minutes of play.

"We were taking our time against the zone, and if I felt open, I took the shot," said Jones. "I felt confident tonight, really feeling more like a leader, so I tried to step for my team. We did good ... starting to click better, but there are still a lot of things we need to work on."

Lee agreed.

MOC permitted 18 offensive rebounds, committed 20 turnovers and lost focus at times within the framework of its offense. But Lee graciously took the victory -- the Trojans' third straight in the series and ninth overall in the last 11 meetings.

"An area that we didn't do well was our defensive blockouts and rebounding, the only part of our defense that I thought was not our strength today," said Lee. "I thought they were aggressive on the (offensive) boards and we could done a better job putting a body on them."