Trojan women finish season

By News-Argus Staff
Published in Sports on March 1, 2007 2:32 PM

• Print
• Email

LAURINBURG -- With the shot clock running down, junior Erika Thompson hit a 10-foot jump shot with 21.2 seconds left to lift No. 4 seed St. Andrews Presbyterian College to a 62-60 victory over No. 5 seed Mount Olive College in the 2007 CVAC Women's Basketball Tournament quarterfinals on Wednesday.

Mount Olive missed a pair of three-pointers in the final 10 seconds as the host Knights escaped with the two-point victory. St. Andrews improved to 20-8 overall and will face No. 1 seed Pfeiffer University in the CVAC tourney semifinals on Friday at 2 p.m. The Falcons are hosting the "final four" this weekend on Pfeiffer's campus in Misenheimer. The Trojans end their season with a winning record at 15-13.

Trailing 16-15 midway through the first half, St. Andrews went on a 16-3 run to take a 31-19 lead with 4:32 left. Mount Olive rallied back with an 11-2 run over the remainder of the period and sophomore Brittney Robich's third 3-pointer of the half pulled the Trojans to within three, 33-30, at halftime.

The Knights broke the third tie of the game, 35-35, early in the second half with a 16-4 run. Senior Diana Martinez completed the burst with a jumper to give SAPC a 12-point advantage, 51-39, with just over 13 minutes remaining.

MOC quickly pulled back to within four, 52-48, with a 9-1 surge over the next two minutes. The Trojans kept chipping away and a Robich free throw tied the game back up at 55-55 with 3:55 to go. After swapping baskets, senior Ashley Mitchell drilled a trey to give the Knights a three-point lead heading into the final two minutes but Robich's sixth bucket from behind the arc once again tied the contest, 60-60 (6th tie), with 1:57 showing on the clock.

Both teams missed a couple opportunities over the next 90 seconds before Thompson drove the left lane as the shot clock was ticking away and pulled up with a little floater that found its mark propelling the Knights back into the lead, 62-60, with 20.2 seconds left.

Prichard attempted to give the visitors the lead with a three-pointer in the final 10 seconds but the errant shot bounced off the rim, ricocheted off a St. Andrews player, and out of bounds giving Mount Olive one last chance. Prichard once again received the ball and took a good looking three-pointer that just missed as time expired.

St. Andrews dominated the glass, outrebounding the Trojans, 52-38, while shooting at a higher percentage. The Knights made 41.1 percent of their attempts while MOC was held to 33.8 percent. However, SAPC kept the visitors in the game committing twice as many turnovers, 20-10.

Junior Danielle Norman led the Knights with her 12th double-double of the season. Norman scored a team-high 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting while also pulling down a game-high 14 rebounds. Mitchell provided 11 points, five rebounds, and four assists. Thompson and senior Karen Foggie each added nine points while senior Marquita Prichard had eight points and seven boards. Martinez chipped in with seven points.

Robich scored a game-high 19 points taking 16 of her 19 shots from downtown and converting on six of them. Mount Olive junior Keona Corley and sophomore Alisa Jones bucketed 12 and 10 points, respectively. Jones just missed a double-double with eight boards. Junior Sierra Medeiros supplied eight points and eight boards.