GREENSBORO, N.C. – Senior Lakiah Hyson celebrated Senior Night with a game-high 14 points and UNC Greensboro held Furman without a field goal for the final 8 minutes, 53 seconds as the Spartans picked up a 60-49 win over the Paladins on Tuesday to snap a 10-game losing streak.
UNCG improved to 8-19 overall and 5-14 in the Southern Conference to climb out of the league cellar. Furman fell to 6-22 overall and 4-15 in the SoCon, a game behind the Spartans.
Amanda Leigh joined Hyson in double digits for the Spartans with 12 points, while Kendra Berry scored a team-high 10 points for Furman.
Furman's Raegan Thompson hit 3-pointers on consecutive possessions midway through the second half, with the second one giving the Paladins their first lead of the half at 46-44. Her second triple came with 8:53 left on the clock, but would prove to be Furman's final field goal of the evening.
"I thought we played very solid defense, all the way around," UNCG coach Lynne Agee said. "We did great work on the ball; all three guards were working real hard on stopping the drive."
UNCG outscored Furman 16-3 the rest of the way, with Monique Floyd's jumper tying the score at 46 with 7:22 to go and Agne Girstautaite hitting a layup with 6:43 to put the Spartans back on top for good.
After a Berry free throw, Girstautaite would add two more layups for her own personal 6-1 run before TaShama Banner and Leigh added buckets on back-to-back possessions to make it 56-47.
A Hyson free throw with 3:03 left pushed the Spartans' lead into double digits for the first time, but Berry stopped the bleeding momentarily with a pair of free throws to pull Furman back within eight at 57-49 with 2:55 to play.
Banner hit a free throw on UNCG's next possession and Kendra Smith dropped in a layup after the offensive rebound on Banner's missed second attempt to make it a 60-49 lead with 2:14 to play.
Neither team would score the rest of the way. Banner came up with a big block on Lee Stephens' fastbreak layup attempt with 49 seconds left to put the exclamation point on the win.
Furman led by as many as seven in the first half, using a 7-0 run to snap a 14-all tie and force a UNCG timeout. The Spartans answered with a 13-3 run to take control and led 31-26 at the break.
For the game, UNCG shot 41.9 percent and held the Paladins to just 34 percent shooting, including a 6-for-24 effort (25 percent) in the second half.
The Spartans won the battle of the boards, outrebounding Furman 38-31. UNCG also dominated the paint, holding a 32-10 advantage there.
UNCG also had a 14-0 advantage in fastbreak points.
"We just ran today," Hyson said. "For the past couple of games, we couldn't convert. And today, we could. Simple as that."
The victory made winners of Hyson, Banner, Girstautaite and senior Dee Corbett in their final game at Fleming Gym. Banner and Girstautaite are juniors with senior academic standing and won't return next season.
Banner finished with a season-high nine points and had three assists and three steals against no turnovers in a career-high 25 minutes. Her three steals moved her to 98 for her career.
Girstautaite finished with eight points and one blocked shot, giving her exactly 100 for her career and making her just the second player in the school history to reach the milestone.
Leigh, who finished with a game-high seven rebounds, had two 3-pointers, giving her 58 on the season, the third-best mark in school history.
"I think the timing of the win can be very good for us," Agee said. "We have one remaining game, of course, that's at Elon, but if we can do what we did tonight in this win, bring the defense that we did tonight, then we have no reason to think we can't win that game."
UNCG will finish the regular season Saturday at Elon with a 2 p.m. tip. The Spartans will look to complete the season sweep of the Phoenix and improve upon their seed for the upcoming SoCon tournament.
AGATE
UNC GREENSBORO 60, FURMAN 49
FURMAN (6-22, 4-15 SoCon)
Kendra Berry 3-5 4-6 10; Kali Holtfreter 3-8 0-0 9; Lee Stephens 3-15 0-0 8; Susan Troutman 2-3 2-2 6; Lakyn Ledford 3-4 0-0 6; Raegan Thompson 2-8 0-0 6; Ayanna Randolph 1-3 0-0 2; Kelly O'Connor 0-2 1-2 1; Mollie Petersen 0-1 1-2 1; Kaitlin Murphy 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 17-50 8-12 49.
UNC GREENSBORO (8-19, 5-14 SoCon)
Lakiah Hyson 5-11 3-4 14; Amanda Leigh 5-16 0-0 12; TaShama Banner 4-8 1-2 9; Agne Girstautaite 4-6 0-0 8; Monique Floyd 3-7 0-0 6; Amy Clapper 3-3 0-0 6; Kendra Smith 2-8 1-2 5; Dee Corbett 0-0 0-0 0; Sidnei Harmon 0-0 0-0 0; Sarah Folwell 0-1 0-0 0; Brey Dorsett 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 26-62 5-8 60.
Furman 26 23 49
UNC Greensboro 31 29 60
3-point goals--Furman 7-22 (Kali Holtfreter 3-8; Raegan Thompson 2-6; Lee Stephens 2-7; Kelly O'Connor 0-1), UNC Greensboro 3-17 (Amanda Leigh 2-7; Lakiah Hyson 1-4; Kendra Smith 0-2; Sarah Folwell 0-1; Brey Dorsett 0-2; TaShama Banner 0-1). Fouled out--Furman-None, UNC Greensboro-None. Rebounds--Furman 31 (Lee Stephens 7), UNC Greensboro 38 (Amanda Leigh 7). Assists--Furman 11 (Susan Troutman 3; Ayanna Randolph 3), UNC Greensboro 16 (Lakiah Hyson 4). Total fouls--Furman 8, UNC Greensboro 10. Technical fouls--Furman-None, UNC Greensboro-None. A-210
- UNCG -
