BELMONT, NC– The Belmont Abbey women’s basketball team outscored North Greenville 10-3 in overtime, holding NGU without a field goal in the extra period, as the Abbey defeated the Crusaders 80-73 this evening at the Wheeler Center. The Abbey improves to 3-2, while North Greenville falls to 3-2.
Belmont Abbey shot 53.3 percent from the floor (32-60) and 58.3 percent (7-12) from three-point range as senior guard Jeanette Johansson led all scorers with 17 points. Johansson shot 6-8 from the floor, including a blistering 5-6 performance from three-point range. She also recorded seven assists and no turnovers in 35 minutes. Freshman guard Kelsey Daniel finished with 14 points on 5-7 shooting from the field, while sophomore center Ebone Johnson added 12 points on 6-9 shooting to go along with seven rebounds. Sophomore guard Marie Marquez added 11 points, nine rebounds and seven assists, and Emma Camp tallied 10 points on 5-7 shooting.
The contest, which saw five ties and 17 lead changes, opened with the Abbey taking a 7-4 lead before NG went on a 6-2 run to take its first lead of the contest at 10-9 with 12:10 left in the half. The lead grew to four until a layup by freshman forward Hannah Lunt and a Johansson trey gave the Abbey the lead at 14-13 with 10:36 left. The Crusaders held that lead, never building it any higher than four points, until the 4:30 mark on an Eboni Davis jumper. Johansson answered that with another three-pointer, followed by a layup from Daniel to up the lead to four. NG would regain a one-point lead at 35-34 with 1:06 left, but Johnson closed the scoring with a layup with 47 ticks remaining to give the Abbey a 36-35 lead at the break.
Belmont Abbey held its lead through the first 6:47 of the second half, never getting it any higher than five at 47-42 with 15:24 left. North Greenville would go on a 7-0 run to take a two-point lead, but a layup by Daniel tied the game at 49 with 11:49 left. The two teams would exchange baskets for the next several minutes until the Abbey went on an 8-4 run to take a 64-59 lead with 7:01 left. The lead never dipped below two points until North Greenville received a jumper from Davis and another from Audrey Toscano to knot the contest at 70 with 28 seconds left. The Abbey took a timeout to set up one final shot, but the chance never hit the rim as the contest ended with a 70-70 tie in regulation.
The final five minutes were all Belmont Abbey, as the Crusaders held North Greenville without a field goal in the extra period. Johnson opened the scoring with a layup to give the Abbey a 72-70 lead, and after a Toscano free throw, Camp answered with a layup with one second remaining on the shot clock to widen the lead to 74-71. Camp would follow with another layup to stretch the lead to 76-71, and a Marquez runner with 1:14 left upped the lead to seven. Toscano then hit two free throws to close North Greenville within five with 1:02 left, but Marquez hit the front end of a two-shot free throw to push the lead to seven, and Daniel did the same with six seconds left to provide the winning margin.
North Greenville shot 47.5 percent (28-59) from the floor as Toscano led the way with 16 points. Debbie Wyatt added 14 and Robin Warner and Davis added 11. The Abbey won the rebounding advantage 38-31 as Marquez led all players with nine.
North Greenville will be back in action Thursday night as they play host to USC-Upstate in Hayes Gymnasium. Tip-off is slated for 7:00 p.m.
