In their final regular season game of the season, the Crusaders traveled to Mount Olive to take on the Trojans in their second meeting of the season. In their prior match-up the Crusader fell into a 17 – 2 hole at the beginning of the game and could not overcome the deficit. This meeting, however, was much different as the Crusaders fought for a complete 40 minutes. The Crusaders were led by their leading scorer, Karen Donehew (Junior), then shared the ball well enough to distribute the scoring across the team.

The Trojans jumped out to a five-point lead thanks to turnovers from the Crusaders. It was not until the 7:29 mark in the quarter that Donehew scored the first points of the game for the Crusaders on an inside up-and-under. The team fell victim to a cold shooting night that featured only 25% shooting from beyond the arc and 32% from the field as a whole. Elizabeth Trentham (Senior) added a layup during the middle of the quarter to keep the Crusaders within striking distance, then Bree Stoddard (Sophomore) drained one of only six three-pointers for the Crusaders to bring the Crusaders within two points of the lead. Trentham again came up huge in the first quarter as she popped out to the short corner and drained her first jump shot of the night to tie the game at nine. The first quarter came to an end with the Trojans leading 9 – 13.

The teams played a very even first half, however, the game differed in how the teams scored off of turnovers. At the end of the game, the stats will show that Mount Olive only posted a +1 in the points off turnovers column, however, the first half was a different story. In the first quarter the Trojans took advantage of the turnovers by the Crusaders scoring seven points. The Crusaders, in return, could not take advantage of the turnovers from the Trojans scoring only two points off of them. Journey Muhammed (Freshman) came up big in the second quarter for the Crusaders scoring five points. Muhammed came up big for the Crusaders sinking a critical triple at the 1:32 mark to keep the Crusaders within two possessions. The Trojans kept a steady four to seven-point lead over the Crusaders throughout the second quarter and without Muhammed’s triple and Trentham’s late put-back the Trojans may have pulled away late in the half.

Coming out in the second half Donehew looked like an unstoppable force as she scored 11 points in the quarter. Simply put, Donehew looked as if she could not miss – she finished the quarter 4 for 7, but her misses came in the later part of the quarter on rushed shots. The Crusaders fought valiantly throughout the quarter finding the weak links and open spots within the Trojan defense. This time it was the Crusaders that were giving the Trojans fits on offense as they were cleaning up the boards on missed shots and getting the ball into transition. Trentham and Muhammed were the main players hitting the boards as they collectively brought down five defensive boards.

Heading into the final quarter of play the Crusaders trialed by eight – well within striking distance of beating the Trojans. Although the Crusaders pushed the lead multiple times thanks to incredible plays by Ty Saunders (Sophomore), Savannah Hughes (Sophomore), and others the team was never able to take the lead away. Late in the quarter Muhammed, Trentham, and Donehew combined for eight points that brought the team within four points of taking the lead. However, the run was too little too late for the Crusaders as Mount Olive added a layup late in the game to push the lead back to 10. In the end Mount Olive bested the Crusaders 52 – 62.

Individually, Donehew had another tremendous game finished with 20 points (most of which came in the third quarter), 6 rebounds, and 3 steals. Elizabeth Trentham put on her best performance of the season scoring 8 points, collecting 12 rebounds, and 1 block on 40 minutes. Journey Muhammed finished the game with 8 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists.

Coming up the Crusaders are awaiting final placement in the Conference Carolinas poles and will prep for the first round of playoff games coming on March 4^th.