MOC women drop fifth straight

Published in Sports on January 15, 2006 2:21 AM

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MOUNT OLIVE -- Mount Olive rallied from a 17-point second-half deficit, but Lisa Jackson's free throw with 4.4 seconds left broke a tie and Erskine held on for a 62-60 win over the Trojans in Carolinas-Virginia Athletics Conference women's basketball Saturday at Kornegay Arena.

Keona Corley scored 11 of her career-high 13 points in the second half to spark the Trojans' rally.

Mount Olive (7-6 overall, 2-4 CVAC) didn't get on the scoreboard until more than five minutes into the contest as Erskine (5-6, 3-3) built the lead to 27-14 with 4:59 remaining. Mount Olive pulled within 29-20, but Erskine scored the final seven points of the half to take a 36-20 halftime lead.

After Erskine took its biggest lead of the game at 46-29, the Trojans cut the deficit to single digits as Teneal Boone's basket brought the Trojans within 50-41 with 9:47 remaining. Corley scored all of her 11 second-half points during the run.

Later in the second half, Tomeka Prichard and Anita Rogers connected on three-pointers and Sierra Medeiros' length of the court pass found Rogers for a layup to tie the game 56-56 with 4:32 left in the contest.

The Trojans took their first lead at 58-57, then led 60-57 with 1:43 remaining. Erskine tied the game in dramatic fashion as Stephanie Jenkins hit a three-pointer from the left corner as the shot clock expired to knot the score at 60-60 with 51 seconds remaining.

Mount Olive had two turnovers on its next two possesions, while Jackson and Garreth Smoak both hit 1-of-2 from the line in the waning seconds to put Erskine on top. With 2.2 seconds left, Corley drove the length of the court, but her 15-footer at the buzzer missed.

Prichard matched Corley for team-high honors with 13 points, 10 in the second half. Corley, Prichard and Rogers combined for 30 of the Trojans' 40 second-half points. Corley, who was 5-for-6 from the field, also dished out six assists and recorded four steals.

Mount Olive returns to action Monday as the Trojans play host to Belmont Abbey in a CVAC match-up at 5:30 p.m.