Ni'ya Styles hit 6-of-10 three-pointers for 24 points and University of Mount Olive withstood a second quarter rally as the Trojans extended their winning streak to six with a 70-49 victory over Pfeiffer University in Conference Carolinas women's basketball Saturday at Kornegay Arena. The Trojans saw a 16-point lead cut down to two in the first half, but pulled away in the third quarter.
Mount Olive (16-10 overall, 14-6 Conference Carolinas) led by six at halftime and Felicity Havens' three-pointer with 6:40 left in the third quarter pushed the lead back to double digits at 41-30. The Trojans held a 47-35 lead when Rachel Fehl's basket with 1:11 remaining triggered an 11-point run.
Tommarah Harris hit a three-pointer with 27 seconds left and Daria Simmons hit from beyond the arc with three seconds remaining to close out the third quarter and give Mount Olive a 20-point lead. After the Trojans survived four fouls in the first 23 seconds of the fourth quarter, Simmons hit another three to extend Mount Olive's lead to 58-35. The margin never fell below 19 points over the final nine minutes of the contest.
Mount Olive spotted a Pfeiffer a basket in the opening minute of the contest, then reeled off 18 unanswered points. Ni'ya Styles hit a three-pointer from the left corner, drove the left baseline and found Anamaria Zjacic for a layup and after a Felicity Havens block, Styles hit another three from the left wing to give the Trojans a 12-2 lead with 4:27 left in the first quarter.
Jada Bacchus hit a layup for Mount Olive and Zjacic added two more baskets inside the paint to stretch the Trojans' lead to 18-2 with 47 seconds remaining in the first quarter. Dajea Scott's three-point play with 31 seconds left ended Pfeiffer's scoring drought and triggered a Falcon comeback.
After Pfeiffer cut the margin to single digits early in the second quarter, Havens' basket extended Mount Olive's lead to 23-10. Shontai Totten answered with a three-pointer for Pfeiffer and Safia Sheikh hit a pair of threes as the Falcons pulled within a field at 28-26 with 2:25 left before halftime.
The Trojans held the Falcons scoreless the remainder of the half and Styles' fourth three-pointer gave Mount Olive a 32-26 halftime lead.
Simmons finished with 16 points for Mount Olive, while Zjacic added eight points and eight rebounds. Havens pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds.
Shontai Totten led three Pfeiffer players in double figures with 12 points.
Mount Olive concludes regular season play with a pair of Conference Carolinas home games this week. The Trojans play host to Barton Tuesday and to Erskine Friday. Tip-off for both games is 5:30 p.m. at Kornegay Arena.