A 19-2 run across each half was the difference as University of Mount Olive fell to Southern Wesleyan University 65-49 in Conference Carolinas women's basketball Wednesday at Kornegay Arena. Ty Wallace finished with 10 points and a game-high 14 rebounds for her fourth consecutive double-double.
Mount Olive (4-9 overall, 2-5 Conference Carolinas) trailed most of the first half until back-to-back three-pointers by Rachel Fehl and Gabby Griffin gave the Trojans their first lead of the game at 16-13 with 5:31 remaining. The Trojans would not score again the remainder of the half.
Layups by Gabrielle Bates and Brooke Strickland put Southern Wesleyan (5-5, 3-4) back on top and Christina Perkins' three-pointer with nine seconds left capped an 11-0 run to end the half and give the Warriors a 24-16 halftime lead. Mount Olive missed its final eight shot attempts and finished 6-for-32 from the field (18.8 percent) in the first half. Southern Wesleyan shot 37.9 percent (11-for-29) from the floor in the first half, but hit three of its final five shots of the half.
The Trojans ended Southern Wesleyan's scoring run on Anamaria Zjacic's layup 90 seconds into the second half. But the Warriors came back with eight unanswered points to take a 32-18 lead with 14:48 left to play.
Arieal Johnson and Ni'ya Styles scored four points apiece in an 8-0 run to draw Mount Olive within 32-26, but that was as close as the Trojans would get. The final score was Southern Wesleyan's biggest lead of the game as Chelsie Waters hit 9-of-10 free throws in the final 57 seconds of the contest. Waters led all scorers with 22 points off the bench.
Johnson narrowly missed her second double-double in as many games with eight points and nine rebounds. She was 6-for-6 from the free throw line as Mount Olive shot 83.3 percent (12-of-14) from the line as a team. Shy'lia Buie dished out four assists for the Trojans.
Perkins finished with 12 points and nine rebounds for Southern Wesleyan, while Waters added a game-high six assists.
Mount Olive returns to action Saturday as the Trojans play host to Pfeiffer in a Conference Carolinas rematch. The Trojans won the first meeting 68-49 November 19 at Misenheimer, N.C. Tip-off is 2 p.m. at Kornegay Arena.