The Skyliner

Issue date: 1/30/08 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Joseph Huntley Guard Nikki Wood dribbles down the lane against Converse College. Wood scored 10 points for the Crusaders. She was one of five players who scored double-digits against Converse. With the win, the Lady Crusaders improved their winning streak to three.

Media Credit: Joseph Huntley Debbie Wyatt picks up the dribble and steps toward the lane. Wyatt scored 12 points for the Crusaders' win over Converse, 83-69.

Stephen Lane
Staff Writer
The North Greenville University Lady Crusaders faced the Brevard Tornadoes in Hayes Gymnasium on Saturday afternoon hoping to earn a winning record with the win for the first time this year.

But the Crusaders lost to Brevard, 57-52.

The loss, which broke a three game winning streak that started with a win over Chowan on Jan. 12, came in overtime. The game ended with a final of 57-52, and the Lady Crusaders fell to 7-8 for the season.

"We should have won that game. We beat ourselves in overtime because we had plenty of chances but couldn't capitalize," said Nikki Wood, sophomore psychology.

The game started with poor shooting from both teams.

The Lady Crusaders struggled early, shooting 22 percent from the field. But the Lady Tornadoes did not shoot much better, finishing the half making nearly a quarter of their shots.

But North Greenville held the lead at the end of the first, 19-18.

The second half was solid for both teams. Each shot 43 percent from the field, and the Lady Crusaders held the lead until the last minutes of the second half.

With less than two minutes left, the Tornadoes took the lead with a three-pointer, taking them ahead for the first of the half, 49-48.

But Amanda Milner split Brevard's defense and tied the score with nine seconds left on the clock.

The teams headed into overtime tied, 50-50.

In the five minute overtime period, the Lady Crusaders had another scoring drought during overtime, scoring only two points. And the Lady Tornadoes scored seven points to give them the win.

Eboni Davis, sophomore biology, led the Crusaders in scoring, with 22 points. Whitney Smith, sophomore accounting, also led the Crusaders offensively with nine points. Amanda Wilner, junior psychology, had seven points and led the team with 10 rebounds.

The Lady Crusader kept their winning streak alive on Wednesday night, Jan. 23, by defeating Converse, 83-69.

Converse came into the game with one of the worst starts in the school's history at 2-19.

The game went back and forth for the first 12 minutes. The Lady Crusaders held a slim 22-20 advantage, but by half time, the Lady Crusaders had extended their lead to 38-29.

Both teams were perfect on free throws.

The shot percentage of the two teams was nearly even, but NGU held an edge 42.4 percent to 42.3 percent.

The Crusaders started the second half with a 18-7 run and increased their lead to 56-36 with 12:12 remaining.

The Lady Crusaders held their 20-point lead until the 10:30 minute mark when Converse's offense woke up.

They went on a 14-2 run in four minutes to cut the Crusaders lead to 65-57 with 6:40 left in the second half.

But eight points was as close as Converse would come. The Lady Crusaders stretched their lead back to double digits and won by 14 points.

Several players were pivotal to the Crusaders' 14-point victory over Converse.
Davis and Robin Warner, junior marketing, led the Lady Crusaders with 15 points each. Davis also had seven rebounds and five assists.

Milner had a double-double for the game, scoring 13 points and grabbing 12 rebounds.

Debbie Wyatt, senior sports management, and Wood also scored in double digits for the Crusaders, scoring 12 and 10 points respectively.


*Brandon Leonard also contributed to this report.

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