GREENSBORO, NC – Behind big nights by Shanita Hampton and Joslyn Spires, the Greensboro College women’s basketball team pulled an upset of nationally ranked Maryville College on Monday night 68-59.
In the opening seven minutes of play, Greensboro College was able to pull out to an early 11-6 lead following a basket by freshman Kamerin Williams. Following the basket by Williams, Maryville was able to come back to take the lead at 15-14 before jumping out to a six point lead of their own at 20-14 with just over seven minutes to play in the opening frame.
Greensboro then used a 9-1 run over the next five minutes of play to retake the lead at 23-21. Joslyn Spires got the run going for the Pride with her second trey of the night before Tiffani Stephen capped out the run with four straight points giving Greensboro the lead.
As time started to tick away in the first half, Spires would find the bottom of the net two more times sending Greensboro into the half with a 29-24 advantage.
Coming out of their intermission period, Greensboro was able to continue the momentum of the first half pulling out to a double digit lead at 51-41 just halfway through the second stanza.
Once the Pride jumped out to the ten point advantage, they continued pushing forward to take their largest lead of the game at 62-47 with 3:51 to play following a Marla Crawford three point basket.
Over the course of the game’s final four minutes, Maryville would pull to within nine points but Greensboro was able to secure the 68-59 victory.
“We did a heck of a job tonight executing our game plan. I am also extremely proud of the way we played as a team,” Pride Head Coach Randy Tuggle said following the game. “We have to take what we learned today about ourselves and continue to apply it to the remainder of the season.”
Hampton finished the night with a game high nineteen point while Spires was right on her heels with eighteen of her own.
Greensboro College also won the rebound battle for the fifth straight game. The Pride women out rebounded the Scots by a narrow 38-32 margin. Vontreece Hayes hauled in ten boards on the night to lead the Pride.
With the victory over Maryville, the Pride women move their overall record to 13-3 while advancing their conference record to 8-2. The Pride women will return to the court on Wednesday night when they travel to take on Mary Baldwin. The game is set to get underway at 6:00 PM.