Franklin Springs, Ga. – The North Greenville women’s basketball team’s season came to a halt Tuesday night at Emmanuel College, as the Crusaders fell to the Lions 80-69 in the NCCAA South Regional title game, for the second time in two years.

The Lions rode the back of Kaylan Young who led all scorers with 28 points. The Lions jumped out to an early lead in the opening minutes of the first half, and took a 35-25 lead into halftime.

“We couldn’t get things clicking and couldn’t play like we wanted to play,” said Jayne Arledge. The foul disparity hurt us as well. We felt like we didn’t get the calls that emmanuel did.”

At the final buzzer, Emmanuel had take 35 free throws compared to only 11 for North Greenville. The Lions made 21 of their attempts from the charity stripe. Two of NGU’s players committed 5 fouls.

The Crusaders trailed by as many as 20 points in the second period, but continued to battle and cut the Lions lead to 6 with just under 10 minutes left in the game. Ill timed foul calls aided the Lions as they cruised to the 11 point win and the South Regional Title.

NGU was once again led by the dynamic duo of Christina Carlis and Krsiceda Cotton, both of whom charted a “double-double”. Cotton finished the day with 15 points and 16 rebounds while Carlis finshed with 13 points and 10 rebounds.

“I just want to thank our seniors,” remarked Arledge. “They have meant a lot to the program and had a great senior year.”

NGU’s three seniors Karly Stache, Erin Gray, and Christina Carlis have led the Crusaders to their most successful season since 2006-2007. Stache, Gray, and Carlis led NGU to a final record of 20-9, which is the best disparity in wins and losses since North Greenville became a member of the NCAA.

The three seniors also led the self appointed “Cru Crew” to a 14-4 record in North Greenville’s first ever season in Conference Carolinas, and a second place regular season finish in the West Division. They finished their careers at NGU with a 61-52 overall record.

Individually, Christina Carlis and Karly Stache made their marks in the North Greenville record books. Carlis passed her way into NGU’s record books dishing out a 395 career assists to become NGU’s all time assists leader, while Karly Stache finished as NGU’s all time leading scorer with 1507 points. She is also the all time leader in 3-pointers made with 261 career triples.

Erin Gray also made her mark at North Greenville anchoring the post position for NGU. For her career, Gray scored 466 points and averaged 4.5 points a game. She was NGU’s best shot blocking threat, rejecting 90 shots in her four-year career. She also wrangled 390 career rebounds.