Mount Olive women crush Southern Wesleyan

MOUNT OLIVE – The University of Mount Olive women’s basketball team converted a season-high 37 field goals and forced 23 turnovers in an 85-42 victory over Southern Wesleyan at Kornegay Arena in Conference Carolinas play on Jan. 4.

With the win, the Trojans improved to 8-6 this season and have a 4-2 record in league action. UMO has won the last nine meetings between the sides and jumps into a third-place tie in the standings. Meanwhile, the Warriors dropped to 2-12 overall with a 2-4 mark in conference play.

Junior Reagan Hune scored a game-high 13 points on six of nine shooting with nine rebounds, three steals and one block in 21 minutes. The Indiana native has recorded double-digit points in eight games this year, including four of the last five contests.

Sophomore Tiandria Tucker totaled 12 points on a perfect six of six from the field and added two steals in 13 minutes off the bench. Freshman Laila Anderson registered 10 points on four of nine shots, while junior Laila Harris delivered eight points, seven rebounds, two assists, two steals and one block in 20 minutes. Freshman Dominique Pacheco also finished with eight points while tallying two rebounds in 14 minutes.

Mount Olive went on a 10-0 run to begin the game after converting five of nine from the floor and forcing SWU into three turnovers. The Warriors closed the gap over the next three minutes by scoring seven of the following nine points to trail 12-7 with 4:01 left in the first. Both teams exchanged baskets down the stretch of the first quarter before Anderson produced four straight points to give UMO a 22-11 advantage at the end of the quarter.

Southern Wesleyan scored the initial basket to start the second quarter before the Trojans mounted a 17-2 run, led by Hune with six points, to stretch the lead to 39-15. During the eight-minute run, SWU was held to one of eight shooting and turned it over seven times. The Trojans went into halftime with a 43-19 lead after the Warriors made a shot at the buzzer.

In the third quarter, UMO totaled nine consecutive points over nearly four minutes to take a comfortable 52-19 advantage with 6:01 remaining. Mount Olive knocked down six of 10 shots in the final five minutes of the third with Pacheco accounting for five points to hold a 67-28 lead heading into the final quarter.

The Trojans played a majority of reserve players throughout the fourth quarter and converted seven of 14 shots with senior Alyssa Root scoring seven points.

Mount Olive finished the game shooting 48.7 percent (37 of 76) from the floor while converting nine of 14 (64.3 percent) from the free-throw line. Meanwhile, the Warriors shot at a 29.8 percent clip (14 of 47) from the field and made just one of 18 (5.6 percent) from three-point range. Mount Olive finished with a 51-34 rebounding advantage and scored 49 points off the bench, while SWU tallied 20 points in the paint.

— From University of Mount Olive Athletics