NGU Skyliner

Stephen Lane
Staff Writer

The North Greenville women’s basketball team started its preseason off against an NC State team that just two years ago made it all the way to the sweet 16. Even though this was the preseason, the Lady Crusaders wanted to prove they weren’t afraid to play anybody.

The Wolfpack opened the first half with an 11-0 run and made a 15-2 run with 10 minutes to go in the game. The size and speed of the lady Wolfpack seemed to overwhelm the Lady Crusaders from the opening whistle.

The Lady Crusaders did cut their lead to eight points shortly after the opening spurt, but the Wolfpack ran away with the game after that. The lead was 42-17 at half time, and 87-44 was the final.

“There wasn’t a big difference talent wise, but their size, speed and strength showed why they’re a Division I team,” said Nikki Wood, senior psychology. “I think we played well, and even though we lost we had fun just having the opportunity to play a team like NC State. I think we’ll do well this season.”

The Lady Crusaders finished the day shooting 23 percent from the floor, 28 percent from behind the arc and 68 percent from the free throw line.Wood and Karly Stache, sophomore mathematics, led the Lady Crusaders with nine points each.

Last season, the Lady Crusaders finished 13-15, losing three out of their last four contests. North Greenville gave up 80 points or more in each of those three losses.

The Crusaders were held under 70 points in 10 of those 15 losses. They were a young team last year and are looking to improve last year’s record with another young team. North Greenville has only four seniors on the squad, and the rest are freshmen sophomores.

The Lady Crusaders have added one more preseason scrimmage before the regular season opener. North Greenville will scrimmage Converse on Nov. 10.

The scrimmage is open to the public, and all students are strongly encouraged to come support the Lady Crusaders and to get a taste of what they have to look forward to in this upcoming season.

The Lady Crusaders’ regular season starts on Nov. 17 against Newberry in Hayes Gymnasium at 6 p.m. The Lady Crusaders then go on a four-game road trip and do not play at home again until Dec. 1.

Tags: Fall 2009, Vol. 109 - Issue 9

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 11th, 2009 and is filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.