UNCG falls, 69-42 in first game of UNCG Thanksgiving Classic

GREENSBORO, NC – The UNC Greensboro women’s basketball team fell to Boston University, 69-42 in the first game of the 2007 UNCG Thanksgiving Classic on Friday afternoon in Fleming Gym.

UNCG (0-4) was led by Ashley Mullins, Gini Grimsely and Jasmine Dixon who each tallied eight points in the loss. Grimsley also tallied six rebounds to lead the Spartans.

Jesyka Burks-Wiley led Boston University (4-1) with 19 points, with 15 points coming in the second half. She was 7-of-9 from the floor and had seven rebounds in the win. Aly Hinton was also in double-figures with 10 points in the win.

“Boston University is a well-coached, skilled team and they showed that this afternoon, said head coach Lynne Agee.” We learned a lot about ourselves this afternoon and will have to come to play tomorrow.”

We are asking people to play roles that they aren’t used to playing and we are at the point where we need to get people in that are going to score and rebound to make a difference for us.”

UNCG started the game quite slow and found themselves down 14-2 midway through the half, as they went almost nine minutes without a field goal. The Spartans couldn’t stop Boston University’s shooters, especially Cheri Raffo and Christine Kinneary who shot 75 percent and 50 percent from the floor respectively in the first half.

BU was 15-of-30 from the floor, good for 50.0 percent shooting while UNCG was only 5-of-22 for 22.7 percent. The Spartans were able to get a little momentum before halftime and went on a 14-10 run to go into the lockeroom trailing 33-17.

UNCG was able to keep the rebounds close in the first stanza and tallied 15 rebounds to BU’s 20 in the first half. The Spartans found a spark in Monique Floyd off the bench; the Fairmont, NC, native tallied five points and two rebounds in the first half.

UNCG’s 22.7 field goal percentage in the first half marked the second lowest percentage of the season. The Spartans shot 18. 8 percent in the first half in a loss to No. 9 Duke.

UNCG came out shooting in the second half and was able to get the lead to 17 points on a three-point bucket the from Gini Grimsley, her first of the afternoon, with just under 17 minutes remaining. The Terriers wouldn’t go away and pushed their lead back up to 21 points on buckets from Wiley-Burks just before the second media timeout of the half.

Grimsely began to get hot from behind the arc with her second three-pointer of the afternoon to cut the lead to 23-41 at the 15:30 mark of the half. The Terriers seemed to have an answer for every UNCG shot and led by 22 points at the 14 minute mark of the half.

Ashley Mullins ended a three minute UNCG scoring drought with a three pointer through the right side to cut the lead to 57-30 and hit a jumper to make it 57-32 on the next possession. UNCG kept the momentum with an offensive foul on BU.  Mullins hit a long two; coupled with a free throw from Jasmine Dixon to cut the lead to 57-34 with a little over five minutes remaining.

BU responded with a bucket but Hyson hit a bucket in the paint on UNCG’s next possession but the Terriers responded with a three-point bucket to keep the lead at 26 points. UNCG closed with five free throws but it wasn’t enough as BU collected their fourth win of the season.

Boston University had a commanding advantage in the paint. The Terriers had 30 points in the paint and recorded 24 points off of turnovers. The Spartans recorded 14 points in the paint and only eight points off of turnovers.

BU’s Burks-Wiley had the hot hand in the second half. She was 1-of-3 from the floor in the first half but rebounded in the second half for 15 points to lead the Terriers.

The Spartans will take on the loser of the game between North Carolina A&T and UNC Asheville Sunday at 1 pm in the consolation game.

AGATE
BOSTON UNIVERSITY 69, UNCG 42

BOSTON UNIVERSITY (4-1)
Burks-Wiley, Jesyka 7-9 3-4 19; Hinton, Aly 4-8 2-2 10; Devine, Kasey 4-70-0 8; Folk, Kristen 3-4 2-2 8; Jean, Corinne 2-4 0-0 6; Raffo, Cheri 3-70-0 6; Kinneary, Christine 2-4 2-3 6; Umez-Eronini, Amarac 1-4 2-2 4;Briggs, Kat 1-4 0-0 2; McIntyre, Krystyn 0-1 0-0 0; Cashman, Kerry 0-1 0-00; Dini, Kristi 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 27-53 113 69.

UNCG (0-4)
GRIMSLEY,Gini 3-12 0-0 8; MULLINS,Ashley 3-6 1-2 8; DIXON,Jasmine 2-3 4-6 8;FLOYD,Monique 2-5 2-3 6; GIRSTAUTAITE,Agne 1-3 1-3 3; FRAZIER,Brittany 0-32-2 2; HYSON,Lakiah 1-4 0-2 2; LING,Ashley 0-3 2-2 2; BANNER,TaShama 0-1 2-22; CHAMBERLAIN,Meghan 0-2 1-1 1; SMITH,Kendra 0-4 0-2 0; BROOKS,Kemena 0-7 0-0 0; WADELINGTON,S 0-4 0-0 0. Totals 12-57 15-25 42.

Halftime: BU 33-17; 3-point goals--BOSTON UNIVERSITY 4-15 (Burks-Wiley, Jesyka 2-2; Jean,Corinne 2-4; Devine, Kasey 0-1; Raffo, Cheri 0-3; Briggs, Kat 0-3; Hinton,Aly 0-2), UNCG 3-18 (GRIMSLEY,Gini 2-7; MULLINS,Ashley 1-3; BANNER,TaShama0-1; SMITH,Kendra 0-1; BROOKS,Kemena 0-3; WADELINGTON,S 0-2; DIXON,Jasmine0-1). Fouled out--BOSTON UNIVERSITY-None, UNCG-None. Rebounds--BOSTON UNIVERSITY 40 (Burks-Wiley,Jesyka 7; Hinton, Aly 7), UNCG 40 (GRIMSLEY,Gini 6). Assists--BOSTON UNIVERSITY 18 (Kinneary, Christine 9), UNCG 5(SMITH,Kendra 1; WADELINGTON,S 1; MULLINS,Ashley 1; BROOKS,Kemena 1;FLOYD,Monique 1). Total fouls--BOSTON UNIVERSITY 26, UNCG 14. Technical fouls--BOSTON UNIVERSITY-None, UNCG-None.

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North Carolina A&T 88, UNC Asheville 62

GREENSBORO, NC - North Carolina A&T was 55.6 percent on 35-of-63- shooting from the floor as they defeated UNC Asheville, 88-62 in the second game of the UNCG Thanksgiving Classic. The Aggies will take on Boston University, a 69-42 winner over UNCG in the early game, in the championship Saturday at 3 pm.

The Aggies had three players in double figures and was led by Ta'Wauna Cook who tallied 16 points on 6-of-12 shooting from the floor. Lamona Smalley tallied seven rebounds in the win.

Chimoa Okoli led UNC Asheville with 15 points on 5-of-10 shooting from the floor. Stacy Shepard had six rebounds in the loss. 

The game was close from the outset but the Aggies pulled away midway through the half. Ta'Wauna Cook and Brittanie Taylor James led North Carolina A&T with nine points each in the first stanza. Taylor-James was 4-of-7 from the floor and Cook was 3-of-8.

Both teams shot a high percentage in the first half. A&T shot 55.9 percent on 19-of-34 shooting from the floor while UNC Asheville shot right at 50.0 percent for the half and was led by Ana Baker and Chimoma Okoli who each tallied six points. Lindsey Montgomery had a team-high three rebounds. 

North Carolina A&T used a 10-2 run to close the half and took a 26-31 lead into the break. 

The Aggies would lead by as many as 20 points in the second half en route to their second consecutive victory. With the win, A&T head coach Patricia Cage-Bibbs picked up her 400th career win.

- UNCG -