North Greenville began conference play with a one point loss to the Hawks of Chowan University with a final score of 76-75 in Murfreesboro, North Carolina. The Crusaders took a 37-31 lead into halftime, but were outscored 45-38 in the second half. Peace Okeke scored a double-double with 14 points and 15 rebounds.

Both teams got on the board with a layup early on with North Greenville's coming from Haylee Luttrell. Tied at 4-4, the Crusaders sprang to life with a seven point run to lead 11-4. From there, Chowan responded with a run of their own to lead 14-11. Momentum would then shift right back to NGU for a nine point run. The Hawks would end the quarter with a buzzer-beating three pointer to make the score 20-17 in favor of North Greenville at the end of the first quarter.

The second quarter began with a three pointer by Karen Donehew to increase the Crusader lead to seven. Chowan would fight back to take the lead with an eight point run. Halfway into the quarter, a three pointer by Luttrell put NGU back ahead 29-27. North Greenville would continue to carry the momentum with an 8-2 run to lead by eight, their largest of the game. Two free throws by the Hawks would cap off the scoring with the Crusaders leading by six at the half.

After an early layup by CU to begin the second half, Bree Stoddard followed up with a three pointer to put NGU up by seven. A five point run by Chowan would follow, and momentum would remain on the side of the Hawks, who tied the game at 44-44. The quarter would go on to feature three additional ties, but a free throw by Journey Muhammed would give North Greenville the lead back as the quarter would come to an end with the score 57-56.

Muhammed started the 4th quarter off with a big three pointer to put the Crusaders back up by four. From there, Chowan responded with five straight points to take a 61-60 lead. The two teams traded points for several minutes, which would result in a 66-66 tie. A 6-2 run by the Hawks put NGU down by four, but a layup and two made free throws by Peace Okeke would tie the game once again at 72-72 with less than a minute remaining. Chowan would grab the lead with a layup with just 22 seconds remaining. North Greenville would call a full timeout, but two missed shots with less than ten seconds remaining forced the Crusaders to foul. Two successful free throws seemingly put the game on ice. However, Journey Muhammed had other plans, making a big three pointer to draw within one point. Two missed free throws after a foul gave NGU a last-second shot, but that shot would come up empty, allowing Chowan to grab the victory.

The Crusaders will return to action on Tuesday, November 26th in Central, South Carolina against the Southern Wesleyan Warriors.