GREENSBORO, N.C. - UNCG women's basketball (6-14, 4-7) completes the sweep of visiting Furman (7-13, 3-8) on Saturday night, passing the Paladins in the SoCon standings with a 58-50 final. CeCe Crudup led all scorers with a new career-high of 22 points, while Khalis Cain's 15 rebounds were both a game-high and career best.

"Coaches, including myself, always talk about their teams in February," said head coach Trina Patterson. "It's not about November, it's about what you do in the late part of the season. And CeCe [Crudup] has become so much better of a player. These last two games may be her best yet and she still has a lot of games to go. She's been good about getting to the basket and taking threes when their open, but her energy-level and her fitness might be the most impressive. She's become almost an unstoppable player..."

The visitors came out looking to revenge their 62-56 loss on Thursday night, jumping out to an 8-2 lead in the opening three minutes. A pair of Crudup makes and a three from Pernilla Sorensen helped keep the Spartans in range of the Paladins, but Furman's three conversions from beyond the arc gave the visiting side a 14-9 lead after 10 minutes. 

Furman led by as much as seven before the end of the second quarter, but the Spartans pulled within a point of their opponents with 3:18 remaining in the half, after scoring a pair of transition buckets. UNCG caused seven Furman turnovers in the first half, including four in the second quarter, but it would be the Paladins to take a 25-20 lead into the break.

After hitting just 2-of-8 for four points in the first 20 minutes, Crudup flipped a switch before the start of the second half, going 7-for-9 with 18 points. The guard outscored Furman 6-0 in the first two minutes of the third quarter, collecting all three of her buckets off of Furman turnovers. As a team the Spartans hit 6-of-12 with six steals in the third quarter alone, getting a perfect 4-of-4 shooting and four steals just from Crudup.

Tied at 37-all, Crudup secured the first points of the fourth quarter, giving the Spartans a lead they would not relinquish for the rest of the contest. Holding the Paladins to 25 points in the second half, Cain helped keep the Spartans in front, securing 10 of her 15 boards and all three of her blocks in the third quarter. She and Crudup combined for five made free throws in the final 43 seconds, icing a 58-50 decision, and a series sweep, for the Spartans.

"We're a growth program," said coach Patterson. "We like to see our players continue to get better and it took awhile for them to do that. There's been a remarkable amount of growth in the young players. I looked on the floor and said 'what the heck?'. We had a freshman, three sophomores and a senior starting. The future looks great if they can do things like they did this week, keep working on their games and keep together as a team."

>> Sorensen hit three of the Spartans' five three-pointers in the contest, with Crudup and Excellanxt Greer each contributing one
>> UNCG had another efficient shooting night against Furman, hitting 22-of-50 (.440) on the afternoon. The Spartans' Saturday performance and .491 shooting percentage on Thursday are their two best averages against Division I opponents this season
>> Crudup did more than just score, gathering five steals, four boards and three assists as well. Cain came just shy of getting a double-double on the night, scoring nine points with her career-high of 15 rebounds

#letsgoG