NGU Skyliner

Stephen Lane
Staff Writer

The Lady Crusaders had two more tune-up games to get ready for their first game of the season against Newberry. The first of the last two exhibition games was against Converse in Hayes Gymnasium last Wednesday. The Crusaders had no problem scoring against Converse and went into half time with a 35-22 lead.

The Lady Crusaders came out hot in the second half, stretching their lead to 20. Head coach Jayne Arledge substituted younger players onto the floor for most of the second half, and the Lady Crusaders went on to defeat Converse 80-68.

Four Lady Crusaders finished in double figures. Nikki Wood, senior sport management, led all scorers with 23 points, with 15 of those points coming in the first half.

The Crusaders’ final exhibition game came against USC Upstate, and this time the Lady Crusaders didn’t look as sharp as they had just a few days before. North Greenville came out ice cold in the first half, mustering only 14 points and shooting 23 percent from the floor.

North Greenville shot only 20 percent from the free throw line went into halftime trailing 44-14. In the second half, the Lady Crusaders played significantly better, more than doubling their point total in the first half, but they could not pull any closer as USC Upstate went on to win 78-47.

The Lady Crusaders are looking to avoid a repeat of last year when they lost 10 out of their 15 road games. They play their first game at home against Newberry on Nov. 17, but seven out of their next eight games and 16 out of their next 25 games will be played away.

“I’m looking forward to the road games we have, and I know we will do better than we did last year,” Wood said.

Wood finished third on the team in scoring last season with 331 points, averaging 12.3 points per game. She also led the team in steals with 48. The Lady Crusaders will definitely have to be road warriors for the upcoming season, and they start their four-game road trip on Nov. 20 at Augusta State at 7:30 p.m.

Tags: Fall 2009, Vol. 109 - Issue 10

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 18th, 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.