MOC hosts Barton tonight

By MOC Sports Information
Published in Sports on January 18, 2007 2:35 PM

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MOUNT OLIVE -- The theme for this week for the Mount Olive women's basketball team might be "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger."

The Trojans opened the week against a team they had beaten only once in the past 10 years and they close the week against a nationally-ranked team. Tonight they face their archrival, which has a win this season over the nationally-ranked team.

Mount Olive puts its three-game winning streak on the line tonight as the Trojans play host to Barton in Carolinas-Virginia Athletics Conference women's basketball. Tip-off is 5:30 p.m. at Kornegay Arena.

Mount Olive (7-7 overall, 4-4 CVAC) rallied for a 58-56 win over Belmont Abbey Monday, thanks to Brittney Robich's go-ahead 3-pointer with 1:24 left in the game. The Trojan defense held the Crusaders scoreless over the final 4:40 of the game.

The win was the Trojans' second in a row at home against Belmont Abbey. Prior to last year, Mount Olive had not beaten the Crusaders since 1996.

Prior to Monday, Mount Olive was averaging nearly 77 points per contest in its previous three games, including a season-high 80 points Saturday against Erskine. The key to the Trojans' scoring average is the points off turnovers: an average of 28.7 per game during those three games. And despite being held under 60 points against Belmont Abbey, the Trojans still scored 17 points off of Crusader turnovers.

Junior point guard Keona Corley has been the sparkplug for Mount Olive on both ends of the floor. She leads the nation in steals with almost five per game and ranks seventh in the nation with just over seven assists per contest. She has reached double figures in assists four times this season and broke her own school record with 14 assists against Erskine Saturday.

Freshman forward Helen Moore continued her double-figure streak, scoring 11 points off the bench Monday. Moore, who is averaging 15.8 points per game, has scored in double figures in 12 consecutive games after being held to nine points in the Trojans' season opener.

Sophomore guard Tomeka Prichard hit 4-of-8 three-pointers Monday and is averaging 11.7 points per contest. She established a career high one week ago tonight with 23 points against Coker.

Barton (10-3, 6-1) is coming off a 78-59 win over Queens. Saturday, the Bulldogs placed five players in double figures in an 85-80 win over nationally 24th-ranked Anderson.

Mount Olive travels to Anderson Saturday.

The Trojans are seeking their first win over Barton since a 65-63 victory at Wilson on January 16, 2005. The Trojans last win over Barton at Kornegay Arena was during the 2002-03 season.