Felicity Havens notched a double-double with 24 points and 11 rebounds, and her third-quarter basket put University of Mount Olive ahead to stay as the Trojans extended their winning streak to four with a 71-55 victory over Erskine College in Conference Carolinas women's basketball Saturday at Due West, S.C. Daria Simmons added 19 points and five steals as the Trojans pulled away in the fourth quarter after seeing a first-half double-digit lead disappear.
Mount Olive (14-10 overall, 12-6 Conference Carolinas) led by as many as 11 points in the second quarter but Erskine used a 16-4 run to take a 38-37 lead with 5:55 remaining in the third quarter. Havens tied the game with a free throw and her basket with 3:41 left in the quarter gave the Trojans a 40-38 lead. Jada Bacchus converted her steal and Simmons' steal into baskets to help the Trojans extend their lead to 47-40 in the final minute of the quarter.
Erskine (12-11, 11-7) Erskine got as close as five points with less than seven minutes left in the contest as Myranda Parham hit a layup off a dish from Naomi Stuger, who made the pass from left of the lane after falling on the floor. Anamaria Zjacic answered for Mount Olive with a 10-foot jumper in the lane and Havens followed with a three-pointer from the left wing to put the lead back to double figures at 56-46 with 5:15 left to play.
The margin never fell below 10 points the rest of the way.
Simmons broke a 4-4 tie early in the first quarter with a three-point play and Mount Olive led the remainder of the half. Simmons' basket with 2:47 left in the quarter gave her nine points and accounted for more than half of Mount Olive's scoring as the Trojans built a 17-10 advantage. Erskine got as close as three points in the second quarter, but Havens and Tommarah Harris combined for three 3-pointers in a span of less than two minutes to give Mount Olive its biggest lead of the half at 33-22 with 4:09 left before intermission.
Erskine held the Trojans scoreless for the remainder of the half and Parham hit a pair of baskets in the final 92 seconds to help pull the Flying Fleet within 33-28 at the break. Erskine made it eight unanswered points on Stuger's basket in the opening minute of the third quarter. Stuger capped Erskine's scoring run with another basket to give the Flying Fleet their first lead since 4-2 and only lead of the second half.
Bacchus was 5-for-5 from the field for Mount Olive and added 13 points off the bench. She also blocked two shots.
Stuger led Erskine with 16 points, while Parham added 12 points.
Mount Olive returns to action Wednesday as the Trojans return to Upstate South Carolina to take on Converse College in a Conference Carolinas match-up. The Trojans won the first meeting 68-47 December 5 at Kornegay Arena. Wednesday's tip-off is 5:30 p.m.