WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: Trojans move on to semifinals

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on February 28, 2017 9:57 AM

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MOUNT OLIVE -- When in doubt, depend on Hope and toss in a Nichol(s) or two into the wishing well or water fountain for good luck.

University of Mount Olive certainly counted on both Monday evening at Kornegay Arena.

Hope Toliver and Makayla Nichols, a pair of freshmen, combined for 27 points as the Trojan women turned back pesky Erskine, 83-77, in opening-round play of the 2017 Conference Carolinas women's basketball tournament.

Fourth-seeded UMO (21-6 overall) travels to top-seeded Limestone on Thursday. Barton and King (TN) meet in the other semifinal. The tournament champ earns the automatic bid to the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional.

"I was thankful that our team gutted it out," Trojans head coach Wendy Lee said before she addressed her team in the locker room.

"We did what we had to do."

Lee drafted Toliver and Nichols into duty, which helped alleviate an injury to junior Felicity Havens. The 5-foot-11 forward suffered a leg injury against Barton last Friday and sat for 13 1/2 minutes.

The slight lineup change and Erskine's defensive gameplan disrupted the Trojans' rhythm.

Until Toliver found a groove in the second quarter. The six-foot forward converted four layups during a 4 1/2-minute stretch. Her fourth field goal, an offensive putback, gave UMO its biggest lead - 36-24 - with 5:30 left before halftime.

"(Mixing the lineup) made us a little uneasy at first because we had played with the same lineup all year," Lee said. "Any time you have to shake it up, it puts you out of rhythm, but it wasn't at the fault of the people that played. The people that played more minutes tonight did just fine.

"We had two freshmen step up big for us tonight."

Her statline filled with zeroes, Nichols followed Toliver's lead in the second half. She knocked down 10 points on 2-of-2 shooting from the floor and a 5-of-6 effort at the free throw line.

Nichols scored an assist from Kiara Jones to make it 76-65 around the two-minute mark in the final period. She drained three free throws down the stretch and helped UMO reach the conference tournament semifinals for the seventh straight year.

One of five Trojan women who scored in double figures, Daria Simmons pumped in a game-high 26 points. Ni'Ya Styles tallied 11 points. Jones (12 points) wiped the glass for 20 rebounds and became the program's single-season record holder for total caroms with 307.

"(Kiara had) 14 offensive rebounds and we needed every single one of them to get extra possessions to win this game," said Lee, whose team is 4-1 all-time against Erskine in tournament play and has won six straight in the series.

"We definitely couldn't have done it without her. She was a monster on the boards. Even though it was an ugly win, it helped us grow with some depth from the bench tonight and hopefully build confidence with those two freshmen."