UMO women ready to begin tournament title run

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on February 29, 2016 1:50 PM

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MOUNT OLIVE -- Anamaria Zjacic and Shy'Lia Buie are the only seniors on the University of Mount Olive women's basketball team to play in three straight Conference Carolinas tournament championship games.

They hope it's four in a row.

The Trojan women (18-10 overall) begin their title quest at home today against in-state rival Pfeiffer U. Tip-off is 7 p.m. inside Kornegay Arena. UMO swept the two-game, regular-season series from the seventh-seeded Falcons.

"I want to see us get our minds right," Trojans head coach Wendy Lee said. "I've been seeing us play 35 minutes of good basketball in the past few games, and tonight (Friday), we might have gotten 15 good minutes. That's not going to get it for the tournament.

"Thank goodness it was right when we needed it."

Lee referred to a near-certain collossal collapse that turned into a remarkable, heart-stopping comeback against Erskine last Friday evening. The Trojan women trailed by as many as 19 points and rallied for a 65-63 victory.

UMO's five starters combined for just 21 points on the night.

Meanwhile, the defense surrendered 41 first-half points and watched Erskine drain seven 3-pointers, including five in the first 12-plus minutes after tip off.

"We weren't taking care of business," Lee said. "We had a little discussion at halftime, had a call-out session and I didn't mean it personal about anybody, but we just were not guarding."

The Trojan women responded to Lee's "speech." They limited the Flying Fleet to just two 3s and surrendered a meager four points in the final 6:50 of the game.

Arieal Johnson, who missed the previous five games due to a concussion, provided a double-double -- 25 points, 10 rebounds -- in 36 minutes of action. The junior forward notched 10 first-half points, but came alive when her teammates needed her the most.

Johnson posted on the low block and constantly moved her feet despite getting either double- or triple-teamed when she received the ball from her teammates. She shot 10 of 19 from the floor, converted five free throws in six tries, blocked four shots and dished out three assists for the game.

"She was getting easy layups, so we just kept going back to what was working," UMO junior guard Daria Simmons said. "She got the lobs, the easy buckets that gave us a little push in the second half."

Lee wants to see a complete effort against Pfeiffer, which enters tournament play on a four-game skid and is just 3-10 on the road this season. The Falcons (8-18) have dropped 11 of their last 14 games overall.

Meg Pritchard is Pfeiffer's top scorer at 12.9 points per game. Safia Sheikh knocks down 11.9 points and Brianna Jones averages 8.8. Ariana Tillman is the top rebounder with 5.8 boards.

The Falcons rank last among the conference's 12 teams in scoring offense (58.6 points), but finished fourth overall in scoring defense (64.2 points) during regular-season play.

"We won (Saturday), but I don't think we feel good about it ... don't really feel good about how we played," Lee said. "It just wasn't what's been working for us and we've got to get (focused). These girls are showing some resilience and toughness now that we might not have had a month or two go. I think we can do it."