North Carolina Wesleyan (4-7, 3-1) rallied from a 16 point deficit to pull out a 60-57 victory over The Pride women’s basketball team on Saturday afternoon. Greensboro (6-4, 2-2) has now dropped two consecutive games following the holiday break.
One day after a sluggish start against Christopher Newport, The Pride wasted little time getting to work in this one. Greensboro scored the first eight points of the game behind a four point effort by Bianca Richburg.
The Battling Bishops rallied to knot the score at 8-8 with 14:21 showing on the clock. The game was tied again at 10-10 before The Pride went on a 7-0 spurt to grab a 17-10 lead.
North Carolina Wesleyan answered back with seven points of its own to even the game at 17-17. A three by Chevena Pickard at the 6:37 point gave Greensboro the lead for good in the first frame. Just four minutes later, The Pride held a commanding 32-21 advantage.
A special moment in the first half came with 2:51 left as Bianca Richburg recorded a block of a NeTaih Davis jumper to tie Danielle Duncan’s career school record of 107.
Greensboro would score the final two baskets of the first half to head into the break holding a 37-23 lead.
After tying Duncan’s block record in the first half, Richburg took over sole possession in the second, swatting a shot by Kourtney Salisbury for her 108th career block.
Unfortunately for the rest of The Pride, things went downhill after that.
North Carolina Wesleyan rallied back from a 16-point deficit over the course of the first ten minutes of the second half, finally taking the lead at 47-46 with two free throws by Courtney Small with 9:28 to play.
The visitors would grow the lead to 52-48 with 8:28 remaining. The Pride stormed back though, going ahead 55-52 following a 7-0 run.
The score would go back-and-forth until Davis buried a bucket with 49 seconds left to put the Battling Bishops up 58-57. Tiffany Bell would add two free throws and the North Carolina Wesleyan defense would put the clamps down in the stretch run to pull out the win.
Pickard recorded a game high 20 points for Greensboro, including nine free throws. She polished off a double-double with ten rebounds. Richburg continued her double-double streak, making it eight in row with 19 points and 13 rebounds.
Overall, The Pride shot 34.5% from the field and 33.3% from beyond the arc compared to 33.3% shooting for the Battling Bishops from the floor. Greensboro held a commanding 50-34 advantage on the boards but committed 30 turnovers to 20 for North Carolina Wesleyan.
The Pride will look to rebound on Saturday, January 12 at Maryville. Tip-off is scheduled for 2 p.m.