Defense turns tide for MOC women

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on December 5, 2013 1:48 PM

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rcoggins@newsargus.com

MOUNT OLIVE -- An early exchange of baskets in halfcourt and transition play against in-state Pfeiffer University proved frustrating for Mount Olive College on Tuesday evening.

Once the Trojan women picked up their defensive intensity, their moods completely changed.

Katie Paschal dumped in a game-high 23 points and Jasmine McDonald flirted with a triple-double during a 59-36 rout of the Falcons inside Kornegay Arena. It was the Conference Carolinas opener for both teams and a rematch of last season's tournament championship game won by MOC.

"I feel like we played good, but there were a few areas where we could have played better," said McDonald, who tallied 13 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists.

"When we did play defense, we got stops and those stops helped build confidence, and helped the team chemistry on both ends of the floor."

Alexis Stallard's 3-pointer near the Mount Olive bench created a 12-12 deadlock barely five minutes into the opening half. The wide-open look led to a Trojan timeout and a tongue lashing from head coach Wendy Lee in the huddle.

The Falcons scored one point the rest of the half.

Joneiqua Gary's basket and Anamaria Jzacic's driving layup in transition sparked a monstrous 18-1 run. McDonald drained her first bucket during the rally, while Paschal and Kirksten Mitchell also got into the scoring act.

Gary supplied 16 points and six rebounds.

"With Andrea (Jones) out and Kirk not on tonight, our chemistry was off, but other people stepped up for us and did a good job," a hoarse Lee said. "J-Mac played all facets of the game. When you've got people like that working for you, it helps you win games that aren't your best games sometimes.

"Ty (Wallace) was really good on the glass tonight."

Wallace contributed four points, two assists and six rebounds in 31 minutes of action. The 5-foot-11 junior from New Bern helped MOC dominate the boards, 49-23.

Jones injured her hamstring during Saturday's victory over St. Augustine's and her status remains day to day.

Pfeiffer went nearly 17 minutes without a field goal.