Women defeat Furman, Elon

The Spartans returned home after a two-game road trip Tuesday night to host the Furman Paladins, on Senior Night at Fleming Gym. The Spartans held a pre-game ceremony for seniors Lakiah Hyson, Dee Corbett, and manager India Lewis. Juniors TaShama Banner and Agne Girstautaite were also honored, as they are seniors academically. The Spartans came into the game trying to snap a ten game losing streak. Their last win came on Jan. 13 against Elon. The Paladins were also in the midst of a long losing streak, having lost their last eight games.

The game started with strong shooting from Furman, as they used two three-pointers early to jump out to 10-4 lead. The Spartans answered the Paladins by going on a 6-0 run to tie the game at 10. Furman would then go on an 11-4 run to take a 21-14 lead with 7:51 remaining in the first half.

The Spartans were again able to fight back as the first half wound down. They were able to get a couple big defensive stops to come back and take the lead, 25-24, with 2:55 left in the half. Most of the Spartans points came in transition, and they were also able to penetrate to the basket several times on Furman, which resulted in easy layups.

The Spartans were able to use the formulas they had used to take the lead and build on it, which help take 31-26 lead into the locker room at halftime. Lakiah Hyson led the Spartans with nine first half points, while Kendra Berry led Furman with seven points. The story of the game to that point had been the Spartans defensive effort, as they forced 11 first half turnovers, as well as having seven steals in the half.

The Spartans and Paladins traded baskets to open the second half, but the Spartans were able to hold on to their lead, 38-34, with 15:23 left in regulation. Midway through the second half, though, the Paladins were able to cut the Spartans lead to one, at 44-43. They took the lead with just under nine minutes to play, their first lead since the first half, 46-44.
The Spartans were able to fight back and regain the lead a few minutes later, as they were also able to stretch the lead to five, at 52-47, with 4:56 remaining in regulation. With 2:55 remaining, the Spartans had upped their lead to ten, and it seemed as if their long losing streak was about to come to an end.

The Spartans were able to close out the game down the stretch to pick up the 60-49 win, to snap their ten game losing streak, and extend Furman’s losing streak to nine. For senior Lakiah Hyson, the win could not come at a better time. “It felt good, I think I can speak for everybody when I say we were just tired of losing, and we were just ready to break that and just win. And I’m glad was on my night.”

The Spartans also showed once again they were able to get big stops when they needed them, ending the game on a 16-3 run. “I thought we played very solid defense all the way around”, said Spartans head coach Lynne Agee.

Next up for the Spartans was their season finale Saturday against rival Elon.

Amanda Leigh led the Spartans with a career high 28 points and a career high 10 rebounds. Leigh was 6-11 from three in the 77-71 victory. UNCG trailed behind the Phoenix 39-31 at the half and continued to trail until the 10-minute mark when a 3-pointer from Leigh gave them the lead. The Phoenix were able to pull it to 1 after a 3-pointer from Tiffany Davis with 3:24 to play. Forty seconds later a Monique Floyd layup would give the Spartans a 3-point advantage. A 3-pointer from Sarah Folwell would give UNCG a 6 point lead with 2 minutes remaining.

17 of Leigh’s 28 points came in the second half. Monique Floyd had 16 points and 5 rebounds in 31 minutes while Hyson had 10 points in 33 minutes.

The Women will travel to Charlotte this weekend for the SoCon Tournament. UNCG finished the regular season 9-19 overall and 6-14 in the SoCon. The Spartans will be a No. 9 seed and face No. 8 Western Carolina at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday. UNCG will have to win 5 games in a row in order to win the SoCon Championship and earn an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.