Box Score
by Kevin Buczek
WILSON, N.C.-Senior guard Ashley Crumel made five of Barton College's season-high 27 steals en route to a 70-39 blowout win against Converse College in Conference Carolinas women's basketball action on Saturday afternoon in Wilson Gymnasium.
Thirteen different Lady Bulldogs scored including a game-high 17 points from senior forward Shante Neal and 14 points by reigning Conference Carolinas Player of the Week Nyeshea Willie.
Just like the first meeting in Spartanburg, S.C., on Dec. 1, Barton never trailed against the Valkyries in completing the regular season series sweep. The Lady Bulldogs improved to 9-4 overall and 8-1 in the league. Converse departed winless on the season at 0-13 and 0-9.
Barton buckets by junior Ashley Thornton and Willie in the first 90 seconds put the Lady Bulldogs ahead from the onset. Converse made four consecutive field goal attempts to keep the score close at 17-13 before Barton outscored the Valkyries 21-11 over the final eight minutes to take a 38-24 lead at halftime.
Neal scored 13 of her 17 points and Willie tallied 12 of her 14 points in the opening period. Senior center Janae Jackson totaled all seven of her points and five of her team-high seven rebounds before the intermission.
"I was disappointed with the way we started the game… really wasn't happy with the way we played the whole first half but I thought we came out well in the second half," said Barton veteran head coach Wendee Saintsing.
The Lady Bulldogs broke away after the break scoring the first 15 points and holding the visitors without a field goal for the first 10 minutes and 31 seconds of the half to complete a 19-2 run. Converse missed 11 consecutive shot attempts during the stretch as Barton's lead grew to 57-26.
"Our starters really stepped up," expressed Saintsing about the Bulldogs strong start to the second half.
A three-pointer by junior Molly Thompson and a jumper by classmate Cassandra Brown gave Barton its largest lead of 34 points twice late in the contest.
Brown led the Lady Bulldogs eight reserve scorers with six points. Crumel (4), Thompson (3), senior Jolanda Mitchell (3), sophomore Kaila Lea (2), senior Alexa Tovella (2), junior Briana Terry (2) and freshman Nina Ferbish (1) also scored helping Barton rest its starters.
"People off the bench got some playing time and played very well," stated Saintsing. "Ashley Crumel played well and Cassie [Brown] played well. Her defense looked really good today. I was really pleased with her and I thought Kaila [Lea] came out well with that last group on the floor and they were really focused and worked hard in executing properly."
Willie and Morgan each made four steals in helping BC force Converse into 39 turnovers. The Lady Bulldogs transitioned the Valkyries mistakes into 39 points off turnovers including 16 fast break points.
Barton shot 34.2% (25-73) and held Converse to 28.3% (13-46) including just 4-of-23 (17.4%) in the second half.
The Valkyries did finish with a significant 51-36 rebounding edge. Junior 6-foot-1 center Samira Gillcrese led the way with a game-high 10 rebounds. Senior Jasmine Middlebrooks led Converse with 10 points and Gillcrese flirted with a double-double with eight points.
All five Bulldogs starters played 25 minutes or less as BC started a stretch of four games in eight days.
Barton next hosts Pfeiffer University in an important Conference Carolinas clash on Monday at 5:30 p.m. The Lady Bulldogs are 4-0 in the Dog House and are one game ahead of the Falcons, who are receiving votes in the current USA TODAY Sports DII Top 25 Coaches Poll, in first place in the league standings.
Coach Saintsing concluded, "We wanted to get our starters some rest today and I thought we were able to do that. They need to get some rest tonight and we need them to be focused tomorrow. We got a tough week ahead. Pfeiffer is going to come in here ready to go. They have a team full of seniors just like we do and they want to finish in the upper level of the conference as well. They have been playing well and have a very strong team that can go eight or nine deep with a lot of shooters. We will have to be focused on Monday to get another win."
