Three From UNCG Women’s Basketball Score Double Figures in Loss to Samford, 68-75
GREENSBORO, NC. – Three from the UNC Greensboro (UNCG) women’s basketball team had double digit points, with Antoniette Emma-Nnopu leading the Spartans with a career-high 15 points, as the Spartans fell to Samford, 75-68. Faith Price and Akira Wiggins both had 11 points each.
FROM THE COACH
“We played hard in the second half. I was really proud of our run. Antoniette had her career high, and I am really proud of her and her tenacity. We just have to figure out the first quarter, we are having slow starts. We need to make some adjustments and get better with our slow starts. I thought that Akira had a really good second half, almost a double-double. We were sound offensively, defensively we had trouble in the paint.”
HOW IT HAPPENED
Price started the Spartans off in the first 10 seconds with a jump shot for a 3-0 lead. Sussy Ngulefac had one in the paint for Samford to cut the deficit to one. An 11-3 run by the Bulldogs, including three-straight three pointers, put Samford up six, 13-7. Both teams went scoreless for the last 1:32 of the frame, ending with Samford having a eight-point lead, 21-13.
Nia Howard made her only three of the game at 9:39 for a five-point deficit, 16-21, and Nitzan Amar’s jumper sliced it even more, 18-21. UNCG cut the deficit to five twice in the frame, once at 8:53 with a layup form Amar, and again with a layup form Kennedy Simpson at 6:39. Khalis Cain’slayup with 2:20 left in the frame was the final basket in the half bringing the deficit to six, 31-37. Samford had an eight-point run to bring the advantage to 14 to end the quarter, 45-31.
The Spartans were on the board first again in the third quarter with a layup from Wiggins at 9:31. Samford went on a 9-5 run to make it a 16-point advantage at 6:52, 38-54. The Bulldogs finished the quarter with a three-point jump shot from Mattie Hatcher, followed by a five-point run by the Spartans which included a jumper from Jordan Releford and an and-one play by Emma-Nnopu to cut the deficit to six, 54-60.
The two teams traded baskets for the first three minutes of the fourth quarter. The Spartans took their first lead since the first quarter after scoring nine-straight points, ending with a three-pointer from Price making it a one-point advatnage, 65-64. Samford responded with its own three pointer from Kathleen Wheeler to take the lead back, 67-65. Cain had a layup to tie the game with 3:27 left in the frame. Samford ended the frame with a seven-point advantage after going on a scoring run for 2:49, 68-75.
BY THE NUMBERS
The Spartans had 28 bench points compared to the Bulldogs’ nine.
UNCG led the game for 4:38.
UNCG outscored Samford in the third quarter 23-15.
Emma-Nnopu had a career-high of 15 points, to lead the team.
Wiggins and Price had 11 points each for the Spartans.
Cain’s 13 rebounds was a game high.
Wiggins had nine assists for a game high.
RECORDS
UNCG: 10-12, 3-5 SoCon
Samford: 12-11, 6-2 SoCon
UP NEXT
The Spartans are back in Fleming Gym again on Saturday, February 4 at 4:00 p.m. to play Mercer. They then head to Wofford for a mid-week match up on February 9 at 7 p.m.
Prior to the game against the Bears, the Spartans will host a Black History Month Celebration on the second floor of the Coleman Building on the campus of UNCG starting at 2:30 p.m. There will be black-owned food trucks and vendors until 5:30 p.m. It is free and open to the public.
Courtesy of Kelly Couse
Strategic Communications Coordinator
UNC Greensboro