Women’s Basketball defeats NGU in 2OT, 94-91

MARS HILL, N.C. - Mars Hill raced out to a 20-point first half advantage and used a double-double and timely rebounds by Armeka Booker (19 points, 16 rebounds) to hold off North Greenville in double overtime, 94-91, on Tuesday inside Stanford Arena.

The Lions (5-4) pressed for much of the first half to jump out to a sizeable lead. North Greenville's Karly Stache, who finished the game with 23 points, scored the first eight of the game for her team, but with Mars Hill leading 11-8 seven minutes into the contest, the Lions went on a 23-6 spurt. A Danielle Tucker bucket with 9:30 on the clock gave Mars Hill its first double-digit advantage, 21-10. A layup by Tucker five minutes later made the score 34-14 in favor of the home team.

The Lady Crusaders (6-3) responded with an 11-2 run. Krisceda Cotton, who scored a game-high 26 points, scored six straight at the end of the run to cut the deficit to 36-25 with two minutes left, but the Lions carried a 43-29 upper hand into halftime.

The Lions dominated the paint in the first 20 minutes of play, outscoring North Greenville 30-12. Mars Hill also held an 8-2 edge in second chance points. Mars Hill was on fire from the field in the first half, shooting 56.3% (18-of-32). The Lady Crusaders were 11-of-23 (47.8%) from the court but committed 17 first-half turnovers.

North Greenville opened the second period by implementing its own full-court press. Trailing 52-35 with 14:50 left in regulation, the Lady Crusaders went on a 17-4 run. Mars Hill, which turned the ball over 12 times in the first 10 minutes of the second half, saw its lead cut to 56-52 after a layup by Ciara Anderson. A three from the corner by Mars Hill's Kristen Metcalf pushed her team's lead back to 61-54 with 6:40 left in regulation, but two free throws by Anderson three minutes later tied the game at 63.

A free throw, steal, and layup by North Greenville's Christina Carlis gave her team a 68-65 upper hand with 1:10 left, but a bucket by Tyler Carlson and steal and fast break layup from Metcalf regained the lead for the home team by one point, 69-68. After Jackie Simon made one of two free throws to give Mars Hill a 70-68 cushion, an Alisha Hope layup tied the game with four seconds on the clock to send the contest into the first overtime.

Cotton and Mars Hill's Ansley Ricker traded buckets in the first 1:40 of the extra period to keep the game deadlocked. Ricker hit a nine-foot bucket with one minute left to make the score 78-76, but Cotton answered with a three 20 seconds later. After two missed free throws by Cotton, Booker hauled in the defensive rebound to set up the final possession of the first overtime. Carlson missed a running layup, but Booker pulled in the offensive board and converted one of two free throws to knot the game at 79-all.

A Booker layup 20 seconds into the second overtime opened the period's scoring. Stache answered with a shot from behind the arc 50 seconds later, but the Lions scored the next 11 points to seize control of the game. Autumn Ward highlighted the run, scoring three straight points, to give Mars Hill a double-digit lead it would not relinquish. The Lions also hit seven straight free throws in the span of 2:30 to ice the game. North Greenville made one final push with consecutive three-pointers by Stache and Aliyah Stokes to cut the margin to 92-88 with nine seconds left. After Carlson made two shots from the charity stripe, Cotton hit a shot from distance as time expired for the final margin.

Metcalf finished with a team-high 20 points and five steals. Tucker and Carlson had 13 apiece. Ricker recorded 12.

Cotton tallied a game-high 20 rebounds. Stache hit 7-of-12 from three-point range. Carlis had 20 points. Hope came up with 11. Cotton and Anderson recorded five steals apiece.

Mars Hill finished the game 33-of-69 (47.8%) from the field, 3-of-12 (25%) from three-point range, and 25-36 (69.4%) from the free throw line. North Greenville was 33-of-81 (40.7%) in the contest, 10-of-22 (45.5%) from distance, and 15-of-22 (68.2%) from the charity stripe.

The Lions outscored the Lady Crusaders in the paint, 50-36, over the course of the game. North Greenville converted 32 Mars Hill turnovers into 34 points, compared to only 20 points off 27 Lady Cruaders turnovers . The Lady Crusaders had 15 steals after intermission.

The Lions will host King on Sunday, Dec. 18. Tipoff is set for 3 p.m.