The Pride women’s basketball team stayed in the hunt for the number two seed in the USA South with a 68-63 victory at Averett on Wednesday. Greensboro moves to 20-4 overall and remains tied with Christopher Newport for second in the standings at 14-3 with one regular season game remaining prior to the conference tournament on February 21-26.
The Pride struggled throughout much of the first half but appeared to open up a close game with a 6-0 run to take an 18-11 lead with 7:47 on the clock. However, the Cougars rallied with a 10-0 spurt to regain the advantage at 21-18 with 5:31 to go in the half.
Greensboro came back with the next eight points before Averett again answered to send the game into the break tied up at 28-28.
The second half opened as a back-and-forth battle with neither team able to gain momentum. The birthday girl, Andrienne Terrell, finally provided a mini spark that would eventually propel The Pride to victory.
Terrell’s lay-up with 10:04 to play widened the Greensboro gap to 50-46. Danielle Duncan followed with a lay-up on the next possession to extend the margin to 52-46. Bianca Richburg continued to push the momentum in favor of The Pride with a bucket at the 7:29 mark to make the score 54-46.
Greensboro would grow the lead to as many as nine points over the next five minutes but could not break the double digit barrier and put the game away. The Cougars continued to fight and chipped the deficit to 63-61 with just over one minute remaining in the game.
Chevena Pickard helped keep The Pride on top with a key jumper with 37 seconds left to make a two possession game at 65-61. Averett added a lay-up to pull to within two points but Terrell put the game away with three free throws and a steal down the stretch.
Duncan led all Greensboro scorers with 17 points to climb to 1,939 for her career. Terrell added 15 points, Pickard finished with 14 and Richburg recorded ten. Richburg’s total closes her to within ten points of the 1,000 career mark.
The Pride shot 37% from the field and 25% from three, one game after lighting it up from beyond the arc in a win over Allen. Greensboro held a 49-43 advantage on the boards and forced 22 turnovers.
The Pride are scheduled to conclude their regular season on Saturday against Shenandoah. Game time is set for 2 p.m. Greensboro will also honor its two seniors, Duncan and Terrell before the game.