STATESBORO, Ga. – Monique Floyd hit the go-ahead layup with 2:20 to play and forced a crucial jump ball with 30.6 seconds left as UNC Greensboro rallied past Georgia Southern on Tuesday, 45-42 for its second Southern Conference win of the season.
Kendra Smith finished with a game-high 12 points for UNCG (5-7, 2-2 SoCon), while Floyd scored eight, all in the second half. Jessica Geiger and Krista Tate had nine each to lead Georgia Southern (6-5, 2-1 SoCon), with Tate grabbing a game-high 11 rebounds. UNCG's win – its fourth in the last five games – snapped Georgia Southern's five-game winning streak.
UNCG trailed 35-26 with 12:51 to play, but finished the game on a 19-7 run. Floyd's jumper with 12:06 to play kicked off an 11-0 spurt, which saw the Spartans take their first lead of the day at 37-35 on Dayshaun Richbow's fastbreak layup with 7:22 to play.
Georgia Southern would tie it twice before Smith's jumper gave UNCG a 41-39 lead with 3:33 left, but Samantha Williams nailed a 3-pointer from the wing to give the Lady Eagles a one-point edge with 2:41 to go.
Floyd answered with her go-ahead layup on the other end, but that was the last field goal for either team. After a couple of empty possessions by both teams – including a pair of missed free throws from J'Lisia Ogburn – the Lady Eagles had the ball and a chance to take the lead with less than a minute to play.
GSU got the ball out of bounds after a missed Carolyn Whitney 3-point try, but had just four seconds left on the shot clock. The Lady Eagles got the ball in to Geiger, but Floyd tied her up, giving the Spartans possession of the ball with 30.6 to play.
Georgia Southern was forced to foul to stop the clock, but had yet to put UNCG in the bonus. When the Lady Eagles finally committed their seventh foul, true freshman Richbow stepped up to the free throw line and calmly sank both ends of her one-and-one to make it a three-point game with just 26.3 seconds left.
The Lady Eagles got the ball back with a chance to tie it, but Richbow got a hand on a GSU pass and knocked the ball loose. Georgia Southern retained possession, but could not get a shot off before the final horn sounded.
The win was UNCG's first in Statesboro since the 2006-07 season.
After finding itself down 11 at 22-11 with 8:31 left in the first, UNCG closed the half on a 9-3 run to cut it to five at the break. Smith got the spurt started with a baseline jumper followed by a pair of Lakiah Hyson free throws. An Amanda Leigh 3-pointer made it seven straight points for UNCG before Georgia Southern's Ro-Ro Smith's stickback put the Lady Eagles back up by six at 24-18.
Smith added a layup of her own to get it back to four points before Tate hit the front end of a one-and-one to make the score 25-20 in GSU's favor.
Winners of two straight SoCon games, the Spartans will try for their third straight when they take on Davidson in Davidson, N.C., on Jan. 2 at 2 p.m.
AGATE
UNC GREENSBORO 45, GEORGIA SOUTHERN 42
UNC GREENSBORO (5-7, 2-2)
Kendra Smith 6-8 0-0 12; Monique Floyd 4-7 0-4 8; Agne Girstautaite 2-2 1-1 5; Lakiah Hyson 1-8 2-2 4; Agneta Morkunaite 2-4 0-0 4; Dayshaun Richbow 1-3 2-2 4; Amanda Leigh 1-5 0-0 3; Brey Dorsett 1-3 0-0 3; Sidnei Harmon 1-1 0-0 2; Sarah Folwell 0-1 0-0 0; Amy Clapper 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 19-43 5-9 45.
GEORGIA SOUTHERN (6-5, 2-1)
Krista Tate 3-7 3-3 9; Jessica Geiger 3-11 1-2 9; J'Lisia Ogburn 3-7 1-4 7; Samantha Williams 2-4 0-0 5; Carolyn Whitney 1-9 0-0 3; Janay Wilson 1-3 1-2 3; Ro-Ro Smith 1-1 0-0 2; Meredyth Frye 1-4 0-0 2; Jamie Navarro 0-2 2-2 2; Candice Ivy 0-2 0-0 0; Briana Scott 0-0 0-0 0; Logan Youngblood 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 15-51 8-13 42.
UNC Greensboro 20 25 45
Georgia Southern 25 17 42
3-point goals--UNC Greensboro 2-12 (Brey Dorsett 1-2; Amanda Leigh 1-4; Lakiah Hyson 0-3; Agneta Morkunaite 0-1; Sarah Folwell 0-1; Kendra Smith 0-1), Georgia Southern 4-18 (Jessica Geiger 2-5; Carolyn Whitney 1-7; Samantha Williams 1-3; Meredyth Frye 0-2; Logan Youngblood 0-1). Fouled out--UNC Greensboro-None, Georgia Southern-None. Rebounds--UNC Greensboro 30 (Lakiah Hyson 7), Georgia Southern 35 (Krista Tate 11). Assists—UNC Greensboro 5 (Lakiah Hyson 3), Georgia Southern 8 (Krista Tate 3). Total fouls--UNC Greensboro 14, Georgia Southern 14. Technical fouls—UNC Greensboro-None, Georgia Southern-None. A-414
- UNCG -
