King dominates boards against UMO women

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on January 9, 2014 1:48 PM

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MOUNT OLIVE -- Defense and rebounding have been points of emphasis for undersized University of Mount Olive all season.

King University turned the tables Wednesday evening.

The taller Tornado controlled the boards and held the Trojans scoreless during key stretches of a 67-57 victory in a Conference Carolinas women's basketball game contested at Kornegay Arena.

"They stay in front of you well, and they have good length and size so it's hard to shoot over them at times," UMO head coach Wendy Lee said. "I feel like we're just down on offense, we're not shooting the ball well regardless of what defense we're attacking.

"A lot of times when you've got offensive-minded players, it affects your defense, so we've got a snowball effect going on."

Six-foot-2 junior Alley Sprouse pulled down 10 rebounds for King, which owned a 47-39 advantage on the glass and outscored UMO 14-6 on second-chance points.

The Trojans' defense surrendered numerous short-scoring surges that turned a one-possession game into double-digit deficits throughout each half.

The back-breaking run occurred late in the second half.

Joneiqua Gary and Jasmine McDonald combined for six points as UMO trimmed a 53-41 deficit to 53-47. King answered with a 9-0 run behind freshman guard Sydney Harris, who buried a 3-pointer in transition and converted a traditional three-point play off of a turnover.

Sprouse added an offensive putback.

"The energy on defense, when that's missing we look less connected on offense on the other end," Lee said. "We have to lock back in on defense and rebounding, and that will get the chemistry in our offense on the other end of the floor to sharpen up and look better."

UMO (7-5 overall, 2-2 CC) never recovered and suffered its first loss in four meetings against King. The Trojans lost for the third time in their last four outings and fourth time overall since Dec. 16.

"We played well against Converse and the last two games, we've been different," Lee said. "We've got to figure out what is going on. It really does start with defense and rebounding, and they know that. We've got to go back to the basics, get stops on defense and hopefully the offense will fall back into place."

The teams battled through three lead changes and one tie during the opening 4 1/2 minutes. Harris knocked down the go-ahead basket for King, which ignited a 12-0 run.

The Trojans missed seven of their first nine shots from the floor and committed two turnovers during the Tornado surge. Gary, ranked 11th nationally in 3-point field goals per game, stopped the run with a 3-pointer. She finished with 17 points.

UMO closed to within 24-21 on Katie Paschal's 3-pointer, but King (9-3, 3-1) responded with a 6-0 run. Harris scored in transition after Paschal's long-range shot.

Sprouse converted a layup off of a turnover and drained two free throws for the Tornado, which shot 17 of 26 from the line compared to 7 of 7 for the Trojans. Officials called 20 fouls on UMO and just seven on King for the game.

Paschal pumped in 16 points, while Jasmine McDonald just missed a double-double with 12 points and nine rebounds.