Lady Crusaders open busy regular season
Posted by The Skyliner on December 2nd, 2009Cory Guinn
Copy Editor
The North Greenville women’s basketball team opened the 2009-10 season against Newberry College on Nov. 17 in Hayes Gymnasium. Newberry used a high-scoring offense to outscore the Crusaders 88-66 for the victory.
In the game, Nikki Wood, senior psychology, led the offense with 16 points and four rebounds. Karly Stache, sophomore mathematics, scored 13 points and Raven Wamer, freshman biology, came off the bench to contribute 10 points.
“We played a pretty good game tonight,” said head coach Jayne Arledge. “We played hard and kept it close we just couldn’t pull ahead and put the game away.”
On Nov. 20, the Crusaders began a four-game road trip when they traveled to Augusta, Ga., to play against the Jaguars of Augusta State. Stache hit eight three-pointers and scored 28 points to lead North Greenville to their first victory of the season, 73-65.
Wood scored seven points and dished out six assists and Krisceda Cotton, freshman sport management, finished with six points and six rebounds.
The Crusaders held a late lead against USC-Aiken on Nov. 21 but were unable to hold on as they fell 56-44.
“It was a defensive battle,” Arledge said. “I feel like we played pretty well and battled hard but we were forced to foul and they made their free throws.”
Wood and post player Erin Gray, freshman business administration, led the team with eight points each. Christina Carlis, freshman business administration, scored seven points in the game and Cotton scored six points and led the team with 12 rebounds.
On Nov. 23 North Greenville tried to can consistency after a shaky start to the season by downing in-state rival Southern Wesleyan University in the NCCAA Classic. The Crusaders overcame a 20-point deficit, thanks to a career-high 35 points from Whitney Smith, senior accounting, but fell in overtime, 100-92.
Stache made three shots from long range to finish with 13 points while Wood and Carlis scored 10 points each.
Looking to rebound from two straight losses, the Crusaders took on Emmanuel College in the second day of the NCCAA Classic. Gray and Carlis combined to score 24 points and the Crusaders outrebounded the Lions 36-34 but North Greenville fell to Emmanuel 55-47.
Gray and Carlis scored 12 points apiece while Smith scored six points and pulled down five rebounds.
“After playing four games in five days I think our girls were just tired and their legs were dead,” Arledge said. “On the bright side, we won the rebounding battle, but we just couldn’t get anything going offensively.”
The Crusaders played against Limestone last night and their next game will be tomorrow against Lees-McRae in Banner Elk, N.C.
Tags: Fall 2009, Vol. 109 - Issue 11