New Orleans, La. – With six minutes remaining in the third quarter, the UNCG women's basketball team (6-7) found itself trailing Cleveland State by 16 points, its largest margin of the game. The Spartans rallied over the final 16 minutes of regulation to defeat CSU (3-7) by four points backed by a stellar fourth quarter performance from junior guard Shanese Harris (Chesapeake, Va./Western Branch).

Lucy Mason (Stone Mountain, Ga./Chamblee Charter) was named to the Tulane Classic All-Tournament team following Monday's game. She scored a game-high 18 points and recorded a double-double with 14 rebounds, 13 of which were defensive.

UNCG jumped out to an early 9-0 lead in the game but the Vikings slowly chipped away. The Spartans went over four minutes without scoring a field goal in the second part of the first quarter allowing CSU to come back and trail by two, 15-13, at the end of the quarter.

Like the previous day, UNCG struggled offensively in the second frame. Cleveland State outscored UNCG 16-6 in the second quarter and held the Spartans to just three field goals over the 10-minute stretch. A jumper by Jade Scaife (Fort Washington, Md./Archbishop Spaulding) at 2:49 in the second made it an eight-point game and neither team would score again before the buzzer.

The third quarter was well balanced between the two opponents as UNCG outscored CSU 16-15. Both teams have four turnovers in the frame and Cleveland State had one more steal than UNCG's three but the Spartans won the battle on the boards holding a 15-10 advantage on rebounds. The turning point came when Kaitlin Callahan (Windsor, Vt./Southern Maine) got a steal in the final seconds of the quarter and Harris connected for the fast break layup to bring the game within seven, its smallest deficit since 6:23 in the second.

India Timpton (Charlotte, N.C./Myers Park) scored back-to-back baskets for UNCG in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter, making it a two-possession game with 6:25 to play. Ashanti Abshaw responded with a layup to put CSU on top by five, 46-41.

Harris scored on a fast break layup with 4:35 to go bringing the Spartans within one, 46-45, but Abshaw went to the line where she made one-of-two shots for the Vikings to take a two-point lead once again. Khayla Livingston's trey at 2:31 gave Cleveland State a five-point cushion but with just under two minutes to go Mason scored on a fast break for UNCG to trail 50-47.

In the final minute of the game, Harris went off, forcing two turnovers and scoring six of her 11 points. She made four-of-five free throws down the stretch to solidify the Spartans victory.

Mason's double-double was the first of the season for her and Scaife was one-point shy of tallying her third double-double of the season with nine points and 11 rebounds in the win. Timpton also had nine points while adding eight rebounds and four steals while Callahan had a team-best and career-high five steals.

UNCG shot 30.6 percent overall in the victory and held a 46-42 edge in rebounds. CSU shot 32.8 percent from field goal range and was just 57.1 percent from the charity stripe while the Spartans were successful on 15-of-22 trips to the line.

The Spartans end their trip to The Big Easy 2-1 and will take a brief recess for the holidays before returning home to Fleming Gymnasium December 28 to host Maryland-Eastern Shore.  UNCG has already matched its wins record from last season with two non-conference games left before Southern Conference action begins in January. 

Fans can stay updated on UNCG women's basketball by logging on to UNCGSpartans.com.

-UNCG-