Trojan women stun No. 8-ranked Limestone in OT

By MOC Sports Information
Published in Sports on March 9, 2013 11:10 PM

• Print
• Email

MOC

Sports Information

GAFFNEY, S.C. -- Don't close that scorebook, yet.

The Mount Olive College basketball team is on a payback tour that could lead to an appearance in the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional.

The Trojan women moved one step closer with a stunning, 79-66 upset over No. 8-ranked Limestone (S.C.) College in semifinal-round play of the 2013 Conference Carolinas tournament on Friday evening.

MOC travels to Pfeiffer today. The championship contest tips off at 2 p.m. and the winner receives the automatic bid to the postseason. Pfeiffer swept the regular-season series by a total of five points.

Jasmine McDonald and Tamara Nesmith each drained six free throws and tallied eight points apiece in overtime to cap the Trojans' dramatic road victory. Nesmith logged her 11th double-double of the season -- 26 points and 12 rebounds. McDonald posted her fifth double-double -- 17 points, 15 assists -- on the year.

Kirksten Mitchell just missed a double-double with 15 points and a career-high eight assists. Joneiqua Gary contributed 11 points, while senior Alyssa Luebs snared 11 rebounds. MOC dominated the boards, 56-41.

The fifth-seeded Trojans (17-11 overall) opened tournament play with a 20-point victory at Coker. The triumph over the top-seeded Saints avenged two regular-season defeats.

Mount Olive saw leads of eight or more disappear in each half, but scored the first seven points in overtime and led the rest of the way. After baskets by Nesmith and McDonald, Mitchell buried a 3-pointer to give the Trojans a 64-57 lead with 2:33 remaining.

Limestone (25-3), which had its 19-game winning streak snapped, was held scoreless in the overtime period until Tia Williams hit 1 of 2 free throws with 2:19 left. Nesmith hit a pair of free throws with 1:49 remaining to give Mount Olive a double-digit lead at 68-58.

The Saints trailed 71-62 when Nesmith and McDonald combined to convert 4 of 6 free throws to give the Trojans a 75-64 lead with 48 seconds remaining. Danielle Dixon answered with a basket for Limestone, but that would be the Saints' final points.

Limestone missed its final three field goal attempts and Mount Olive sealed the win at the free throw line.

Women's lacrosse

MOUNT OLIVE -- Maddy Biggar's late goal in the opening half broke a 3-3 deadlock and sparked Mount Olive College to a 13-6, non-conference victory over Urbana University at Amon Field on Saturday afternoon.

Ten players scored for the Trojans, who evened their record at 4-4.

Biggar's goal with 9:22 left sparked a four-goal outburst. MOC controlled the midfield draw after each goal and carried the momentum into the second half. The Trojans committed just six first-half turnovers.

Kara Lyon scored less than 3 1/2 minutes into the second half, then she assisted on Michelle Scannell's goal two minutes later. Lyon struck again on a free-position goal with 20-plus minutes remaining, which stretched the lead to 10-3.

Allie Dunn and Alex Crawford followed with goals 26 seconds apart as MOC's advantage swelled to 12-3.

Lyon and Dunn finished with two goals apiece. Biggar, Scannell, Alanna Bauche, Riann Daziel, Cockburn, Crawford, Corkin and Caitlin Gore scored one apiece. Lyon finished with four assists, Scannell added two and Bauche and Dunn provided one apiece.

The Trojans entertain in-state foe Catawba on Thursday.

Men's volleyball

JAMAICA, N.Y. -- Alex Rivero pounded out a match-high 11 kills and Mount Olive College completed play undefeated in the two-day York Classic with a 25-16, 25-18, 25-16 over tournament host York College.

Ben Casado handed out 33 assists for the Trojans, who extended their win streak to 11 and earned their 14th three-set sweep of the season. Adam Miracle supplied nine kills, while Angel Dache contributed seven.

Libero Dan Arnold led the defense with eight digs.

The Trojans (17-3 overall) opened play with a three-set sweep over Lasell College on Friday. They returned Saturday morning to hand NYU-Poly a 25-17, 25-13, 25-5 loss behind 15 kills from Steven Cruse.

Dache cranked out 11 kills during a 25-21, 30-28, 25-18 conquest of Lancaster Bible (Pa.) College. Andreas Lengler provided eight kills, while Casado dished out 41 assists.

Mount Olive travels to Conference Carolinas in-state foe Belmont Abbey on Tuesday.

Men's lacrosse

SAINT LEO, Fla. -- Saint Leo scored five goals in the final eight-plus minutes of regulation and handed Mount Olive College an 11-6, non-conference defeat on Friday evening.

Alex Tindall and Jake Duarte scored their first goals of the season for the Trojans, who slipped to 2-3 overall this season. MOC continued its spring break trip with a contest at Florida Tech on Saturday evening.

After trailing most of the contest, Mount Olive freshmen Spencer Gelinas and Blake Bennett opened the fourth period with unassisted goals to knot the game 6-6 with 9:55 left to play.

The Lions (4-2 overall) answered with their back-breaking run and put tremendous pressure on Trojans' keeper Rocky Bowman, who logged 10 saves in the 60-minute affair.