University of Mount Olive took a 78-49 win over Southern Wesleyan University Tuesday night in Conference Carolinas women's basketball inside Kornegay Arena in Mount Olive, N.C. Ni'Ya Styles led all Trojans with 18 points. Tuesday's contest was part of Mount Olive Tribune Night at Kornegay Arena.
Mount Olive (3-3 Overall, 2-0 Conference Carolinas) took the first quarter and ran with it as a 12 point run put the Trojans safely a head and they never looked back. The lead never fell below five as Mount Olive outscored Southern Wesleyan (1-7, 0-2) 42-to-20 in the second half.
In the opening quarter, Mount Olive took the game's first four points before Aneysa Williams' bucket put the Warriors on the board. The Trojans however kicked up the offense and put up 12 unanswered points, until Kasey Howard's free throw stopped the run momentarily. Southern Wesleyan scored the quarter's last three points as the Warriors trailed 18-6.
Southern Wesleyan crawled back in the second quarter as a pair of three-pointers to end the half put the deficit at 36-29 at the break. The Warriors however, were unable to draw any closer in the second half as the lead grew to as high as 22 in the third quarter.
The final quarter Mount Olive secured the win with a 9-0 run that started off a Kiara Jones free throw with 6:53. Tache Smothers capped off the run with a free throw at the 2:03 mark and pushed the Trojan lead to 76-47, their highest of the game. A no look pass by Julie Gonzalez-Rodriguez found Ja'Kara White and the layup finished off the game as the Trojans picked up their first Conference Carolinas win at home.
Four Trojans scored in double figures. Daria Simmons (17), Kiara Jones (13), and Arieal Johnson (11) joined Styles (18) to lead the Mount Olive offense. Jada Bacchus had a near double double as she finished with seven points and seven boards.
Mount Olive will remain inside Kornegay Arena as the Trojans will host the Valkyries of Converse College on Saturday. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m. in Mount Olive.