Confident Trojan women ready to defend tournament crown

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on February 28, 2014 1:48 PM

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MOUNT OLIVE -- Play hard or go home.

It's a simple mantra that holds significant meaning for the University of Mount Olive women's basketball team, particularly its five seniors.

The quintet looks to extend their collegiate careers Saturday when the third-seeded Trojan women launch defense of their Conference Carolinas tournament championship at home against Erskine. Tip-off is 2 p.m. at Kornegay Arena.

Admission is free, but donations will be accepted for the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

UMO concluded regular-season play with a 79-66 triumph over archrival Barton on Tuesday. Senior forward Kirksten Mitchell pumped in 25 points for the Trojans, who snapped a three-game skid.

"We played really good teams on the road ... three games within six days and were on a bus for 40 hours," Mount Olive head coach Wendy Lee said. "We could have come into this (Barton) game pretty deflated because we're on a three-game losing streak, but our mentality was the past is the past.

"We're a better team. We really know who we are now. We're snapping out of mental (slumps) better than we were early in the season. Different people are stepping up when somebody else is down and that's encouraging."

One of five seniors, Mitchell averages 10.6 points a game. She is one of four Trojans in double figures along with East Carolina transfer Katie Paschal (14.6), Joneiqua Gary (13.0) and Jasmine McDonald (11.9). McDonald finished two assists shy of her second career double-double against Barton.

Senior Andrea Jones contributes 5.8 points an outing.

UMO scores 68.7 points a game and has a plus-6.3 edge in rebound margin. Defensively, Lee's club holds opponents to 36-percent shooting from the floor and 67 points an outing.

The Trojan women (16-10 overall) seek their third tournament crown in program history and second straight appearance in the NCAA Division II playoffs. They endured an opening-round, season-ending loss to national powerhouse Clayton State in the Southeast Regional a year ago.

"It's coming to an end," Mitchell said. "We have to play just the same way we played this game (against Barton). We just have to play a little bit better. We already have the mindset to do this.

"We're like a roller coaster and we're going up ... in a good place right now."