Tigerville, S.C.—The North Greenville women’s basketball team opened up the 2012 portion of its schedule in style on Tuesday night, as the Crusaders cruised past the Tornado of King College 68-47, to improve to 2-0 in league play.

The Crusaders exploded out of the gates with an 18-4 run which spanned the first five minutes of the game. Senior guard Karly Stache sparked the run scoring 11 if NGU’s 18 points. Stache was perfect from the field in the first half, going 4-4 from the three-point arch. Stache finished the game with 28 points. She was 11-14 from the field for 78 percent.

The Crusaders led by as many as 19 in the first half, but King closed out the final five minutes of the first period with a 12-2 run, cutting the lead to 9 before intermission. The Tornado were less than stellar from the field in the first half going 9 of 36 for just 25 percent. The Crusaders finished the first period shooting 43.3 percent (13-30).

The Crusaders came out in the second half and put together another run, reminiscent of their first half outburst to open the game. This time North Greenville was passed by transfer guard Ashleigh Edwards who opened the 2^nd period scoring 7 of North Greenville’s first 13 points. Edwards finished with 12 points, her best output of the season.

The Crusaders quickly extended their lead to 16 points with a 13-5 run, once again spanning the opening five minutes of a half. NGU once again led by 19 points in the second half. The Tornado cut the lead to 12, but NGU proved too strong for King, outscoring the Tornado 13-4, cementing the win.

The Crusaders were also helped on the offensive end of the court by freshman Courtney Friddle who powered in 8 points from her post-position while snatching 6 rebounds. Krisceda Cotton scored four points but led the Crusaders with 11 rebounds and four steals to lead the team in both categories.

The win over King propelled the Crusaders to a 7-4 record on the season, and 2-0 in league play. The squad will take two days to regroup before heading to Due West, South Carolina to take on Erskine in its third conference matchup of the season. The Flying Fleet are 2-7 overall and 0-2 in conference play. The tipoff is scheduled for 5:30pm.