Tamara Nesmith tallied 18 points, 10 rebounds and six assists, while Ty Wallace pulled down a career-high 10 rebounds and came within a point of her first collegiate double-double as Mount Olive remained unbeaten at home with a 65-30 victory over Brevard in non-conference women's basketball Wednesday at Kornegay Arena. The Trojans are now 5-0 at home.
Mount Olive (7-1) scored the first six points of the game and jumped out to a 12-3 lead in the first seven minutes of the contest as Nesmith and Wallace scored four points apiece in the Trojans' run. Mount Olive held Brevard (3-6) scoreless until Micheala Watkins' three-point play with 14:41 left in the first half.
The Trojans' lead reached double digits for the first time after Alexandra Silva's fastbreak layup off of Joneiqua Gary's steal gave Mount Olive a 16-5 advantage with 11:06 remaining. Gary's three-pointer with 9:14 left after a Wallace offensive rebound capped an 11-2 run and extended the Trojans' lead to 23-7.
The margin reached the 20-point mark after Mitchell's layup gave Mount Olive a 32-12 lead with 3:47 remaining. Katelynne Poole answered with a three-pointer on Brevard's next possession, but Mount Olive held the Tornados scoreless for the remainder of the half.
Mitchell rattled home a three-pointer from the top of the key with 13 seconds left as the Trojans scored the final 10 points of the half and went into the locker room with a 42-15 halftime lead.
Brevard blocked four of the Trojans' first six shots of the second half and Watkins hit a 28-foot three-pointer as the Tornados kept Mount Olive scoreless for the first three minutes after halftime. But Mount Olive answered with a 12-2 run as a pair of three-pointers by Gary and Wallace's 10-foot jumper off of a touch pass by McDonald extended the Trojans' lead to 54-20 with 12:33 left to play.
The margin never fell below 29 points the remainder of the game.
Gary was 6-for-10 from the field, including 3-of-5 from three-point range, for 15 points, while Wallace finished with nine points. Mitchell had eight points and a game-high four steals as the Trojans scored 26 points off of 36 Brevard turnovers.
Watkins led Brevard with eight points, while Candice Fritz pulled down a team-high seven rebounds. Tuccoa Brackett recorded three of the Tornados' five blocked shots.
Mount Olive is off until December 30 when the Trojans play host to WBCA Top 25 vote-getter Fayetteville State in the final game of the calendar year. Tip-off is 2 p.m. at Kornegay Arena. All of the Trojans' remaining contests after the first of the year are Conference Carolinas games.