Greensboro College Pride Women’s Basketball Opens Season With 91-76 Win

GREENSBORO, NC — The Greensboro College Pride women’s basketball opened their 2013-2014 season with a 91-76 defeat of the Spirits of Salem College in Hanes Gymnasium on Saturday afternoon.

In the first half of play, The Pride came out of gates slow with Salem pushing out to an 11 point lead at 15-4 just four minutes into the game. However, Greensboro came right back with an 11-0 run to tie the game at 15-15. Chevena Pickard got the run started with a big three pointer following a fast break basket by the Spirits. After the three pointer by Pickard, Pride newcomer Syerra Troutman collected a defensive rebound following a Salem missed shot and went coast to coast to bring the deflect down to six. Following the layup, Pickard took the game into her hands collecting five straight points to tie the contest.

Once The Pride tied the game up, the momentum turned to Greensboro for the rest of the half. Salem would keep the game close, until Brandy Rush hit The Pride’s third three point shot of the first eight minutes of the contest to help Greensboro pull away in the first half. Toward the end of the first half of play, freshman point guard Joslyn Spires took control of the court scoring all six of her first half points in the final nine minutes of the half while dishing out her second assist of the half finding Shanita Hampton for a long jumper with two seconds left on the clock. Greensboro would go into the half with an 15 point advantage at 45-30.

When the two teams returned to the court, the tempo of the game picked up to a faster pace. Both teams traded baskets back and forth with Greensboro not able to pull away further. At the halfway point of the second half, The Pride was able to pull out to their largest lead of the game at 19 when Spires converted on an old fashion three point play making the score 68-49 in favor of The Pride. Salem was able to pull the game back to within 11 with six minutes remaining on the clock but would not get any closer. The Pride was able to stay strong to end the game, as Rush closed out the scoring with six seconds remaining on the clock making the score 91-76.

The Pride had four players in double figures in the game. Chevena Pickard had a team high 21 points and five rebounds, while Brandy Rush led the Greensboro bench contributing 13 points. In the game The Pride was out rebounded 60-36, but was able to prevail to the win. Greensboro was able to force the Spirits to 32 turnovers on the game, resulting in 31 Pride points. The Greensboro bench contributed 36 points in the game while the Spirits bench only had 25.

With the win, The Pride opens the season with a 1-0 record while Salem falls to 0-1. The Pride will be back in action next Saturday, when they travel to take on Mid Atlantic Christian for their second game of the season and first on the road. Game time is set for a 2:00 pm start. Live stats will be provided for the game and you can follow them at www.greenborocollegesports.com.