Poor shooting, passive play haunts UMO women

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on January 8, 2015 1:48 PM

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MOUNT OLIVE -- Where was the team that dove on the floor for loose balls, saved rebounds from going out of bounds and gained extra possessions through extra effort against Lees-McRae on Sunday?

Wendy Lee asked herself that very question Wednesday evening.

The University of Mount Olive started strong emotionally, but became passive once it started missing shots. A meager perimeter performance allowed Southern Wesleyan to pack its 2-3 zone in the paint and take away the Trojans' top two options -- Ty Wallace and Arieal Johnson.

Wallace managed to produce her third consecutive double-double, but Johnson got limited touches in a 65-49 loss on the Conference Carolinas women's basketball scene.

"Arieal didn't have the numbers she had Sunday (vs. L-MC), but she did have some good defensive plays, made some blocks and a difference around the rim," Lee said. "This team really did intentionally stay tight on Ty and Arieal, so their shots were difficult shots and it takes hitting some perimeter shots to loosen that up."

Wallace notched 10 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, while Johnson provided eight points and nine boards. The remainder of the team combined for 31 points and missed 18 shots behind the 3-point arc.

Southern Wesleyan never had a reason to step out and defend the UMO shooters. The Trojans (4-9 overall, 2-4 CC) shot a paltry 26.2 percent (17 of 65) from the floor, including a woeful 18.8 percent in the opening half.

The Warriors owned a 32-20 advantage in the paint and also forced 26 turnovers, which led to 20 points.

UMO produced its second-lowest offensive output of the season.

"I'm disappointed because I thought we had really rallied in our last game on Sunday, really pulled together as a team and showed a lot of heart. It's hard to say that today because we did not show heart," Lee said.

"I won't say that we didn't play hard, but we didn't look like we had the confidence that it would take to win the game and I thought that's what Sunday would have given us."

Rachel Fehl's 3-point tied the game at 13-13 and Gabby Griffin's 3-pointer gave UMO its lone lead of the night. The Warriors responded with an 11-0 run over the final 41/2 minutes of the opening half.

Baskets from Shayla Coleman and reserve Chelsie Waters, who led all scorers with 22 points, boosted Southern Wesleyan's advantage to 32-18 in the first 51/2 minutes.

The Trojans shot 1 of 9 from the floor during that stretch.

Ni'Ya Styles and Johnson combined for eight consecutive points that shaved SWU's lead to 32-26 after a timeout. But the Warriors (5-5) eventually regained a double-digit advantage and pulled away for their third conference victory in seven tries this season.