Box Score by Benny Benton
BRISTOL, Tenn. – Barton College guard Nyeshea Willie poured in a career-high 39 points – including her team's final eight – and Ashley Thornton added a key 3-pointer down the stretch as the Lady Bulldogs claimed an 84-76 women's basketball victory over host King University Saturday.
The win, coupled with a loss by Limestone College on Saturday, moved the Lady Bulldogs into a three-way tie for first place in Conference Carolinas at 4-1. Barton has won three straight in improving to 7-6 overall.
King, which came into the game tied with Barton for second place in the league standings, slipped to 9-4 overall and 3-2 in league play.
Barton let a 14-point first-half lead slip away and trailed the Tornado by three points at 74-71 following a basket in the low post by Alley Sprouse with 2:32 to go. Kaila Lea made a layup on Barton's next possession to cut the deficit to one, and King's Tia Keitt missed a contested layup on the other end.
Willie missed a jumper on the ensuing possession, but saved her own rebound just before falling out of bounds and passed it on the left sideline to Lea. The ball again almost went out of bounds, but Lea kept it in play and found Thornton open at the top of the key, where she drained her third 3-pointer of the contest to put the Lady Bulldogs back in front to stay, 74-72.
King's leading scorer, Bonnie Durrett, missed a 3-point attempt on King's next possession with 1:31 remaining, and Barton took 30 seconds off the clock before Willie made a jumper in the lane to give the Lady Bulldogs a four-point cushion with just over a minute to go.
Durrett, who came into the contest averaging 12.4 points and 12.0 rebounds per game, was held scoreless until the 1:58 mark of the first half, and finished the game with just eight points and six boards.
Willie was called for a foul with 49 seconds left, sending Chelsea Bowling to the line, where she made the first and missed the second. However, Lea was called for a foul on the rebound, giving the Tornado two more free throws, this time by Stephanie Brantley, who also made 1-of-2, cutting the King deficit to 78-76 with 48 seconds remaining.
Barton ran the clock down to 27 seconds before Willie pulled up for another clutch 12-foot jumper in the lane, giving the Lady Bulldogs a two-possession lead, 80-76. King's Keitt missed a jumper with 14 seconds left and the ball went out of bounds, turning it over. The Tornado was called for a foul on Willie on the inbounds play, and the King bench was also called for a technical, giving Barton four free throws.
Willie, one of the nation's best free throw shooters at better than 91 percent, made all four, putting the Barton victory on ice. Willie was 14 of 15 from the line in the contest and 11 of 26 from the field, including a trio of 3-pointers.
Two of Willie's treys came in the game's first six and a half minutes, as Barton collectively made 5-of-6 from 3-point range in that span and raced out to a quick 21-7 lead. The Lady Bulldogs still led by that margin following a Caila Carter layup with 9:29 left in the half when King began a slow rally with the help of its bench.
With all five starters out of the game, the Tornado used a basket by Sydney Harris and a pair of buckets by Sprouse to spark a 10-3 run over the game's next three minutes that cut the deficit to seven at 34-27. Sprouse finished the night with 16 points and Harris added 10 for King, whose bench outscored Barton's 33 to 15.
Barton took that same seven-point margin into intermission, 40-33, but the Lady Bulldogs missed two shots and turned the ball over four times in the first three minutes of the second half, and King quickly pulled to within one on a jumper by Brantley, who led the Tornado with 17 points.
King briefly took the lead, and the two teams went through several ties and lead changes before Barton pulled away to an eight-point lead again on a Tiffany Webster layup with 9:14 left. However, the Tornado stormed right back, making its next four shots from the field as part of a 10-2 run to tie the score at 63-all with 7:05 left.
The Tornado took its first lead since the early part of the second half on a 3-pointer by Bowling that put King up 68-67. A Barton turnover led to two Bowling free throws, giving King its biggest lead of the game, 70-67, the same margin the Tornado enjoyed with 2:32 left when Barton made its final push for the win behind Willie.
Her 39 points easily surpassed her previous high of 33, which came as a sophomore against North Greenville University on Feb. 11, 2012. The performance marked the fifth time in her career that she has gone over 30 points in a game.
Willie wasn't the only one to have a career night. The Lady Bulldogs also received 15 points from Webster, the best scoring night of her freshman season. Another freshman, Carter, led Barton with 10 rebounds – her second straight double-figure game on the boards – and nine points. Thornton chipped in 11 points, five rebounds and three assists.
Both teams made 30 field goals in the contest, but Barton made two more 3-pointers and enjoyed a significant advantage at the free throw line, where the Lady Bulldogs shot 84 percent (16 of 19) while the Tornado made just 56 percent (10 of 18).
The Lady Bulldogs will make another long road trip on Wednesday, this time to mountains of the North Carolina for a 5:30 p.m. matchup in Banner Elk with Lees-McRae College.
