Box Score by Benny Benton
WILSON, N.C. – The Barton College women's basketball team held North Greenville University to 30-percent shooting and out-rebounded the Crusaders 63 to 38 to claim an 84-54 Conference Carolinas victory Wednesday night in Wilson Gym.
The 63 rebounds for the Lady Bulldogs (6-6, 3-1) were the most since Barton pulled down 67 in a home win over Coker College on Feb. 11, 2011. Barton had 31 of its rebounds Wednesday night on the offensive glass, also the most since that victory three seasons ago over the Cobras.
Senior Cassandra Brown and freshman Caila Carter each grabbed a game-high 12 boards for the Lady Bulldogs. Carter's total doubled her previous high.
Barton received balanced scoring, as four Lady Bulldogs reached double-figures. Junior Brianna Thomas led the way with 16 points and also narrowly missed a double-double, pulling in nine rebounds.
Senior Nyeshea Willie, the league's leading scorer, spent significant minutes on the bench in foul trouble and was held to 14 points, nine below her season average. She also contributed a season-high seven assists and added six boards.
Senior Ashley Thornton added 13 points, all of those coming in the first half, and chipped in five assists. Freshman Tiffany Webster tossed in 10 points and added six assists, and Carter scored nine points to go with her 12 boards.
Junior Timisty Nelson was the only player to reach double-figures for the Crusaders (4-8, 0-4), scoring 16 points and grabbing seven rebounds. Four other players had six points each.
Barton never trailed in the game, using a three-point play by Thomas and a pair of Willie layups to claim a quick 12-2 advantage. The Lady Bulldogs maintained that advantage through much of the first half courtesy of Thornton, who made a trio of 3-pointers in a five-minute span midway through the period.
The Lady Bulldogs led 26-15 following the last of those three treys with 8:44 to go in the half, but the Crusaders scored three straight points and then Willie collected her second foul of the period to force her to the bench. NGU took advantage to score six more points in a row, getting as close as 26-24 on a free throw by Krisceda Cotton with 4:42 left in the period.
However, Carter made one of two shots from the line after being fouled following an offensive rebound, Cotton missed a jumper for the Crusaders on the other end and Shadawn Clanton drained a 3-pointer for Barton to push the lead back to six, 30-24. Those points started a 9-0 run for the Lady Bulldogs that put Barton back in front by double-digits again.
The Lady Bulldogs took a 39-28 advantage into intermission, then stormed out of the gate to start the second half with another 9-0 run that put the game out of reach, 48-28. Thomas started the second-half spurt with a 3-pointer, and she joined Willie and Brown with layups that increased the lead to 20 points.
From the time the Crusaders closed to within two points late in the first half until Barton went up by 20 just two and a half minutes into the second period, North Greenville went 1-of-9 from the floor with six turnovers.
The shooting did not improve much over the rest of the half, as the Crusaders shot just 26.8 percent (11 of 41) from the field in the period and turned the ball over 11 times in the half.
Barton, which had shot just under 37 period in the opening frame, improved to 42.5 percent in the second half (17 of 40) and also shot 9 of 11 (81 percent) from the foul line.
A total of 10 players from each side got into the scoring column, with Barton getting 26 points and the Crusaders getting 16 points from players off the bench.
The win kept the Lady Bulldogs in a tie for second place, one game behind league-leading Limestone. Barton will visit one of the other two teams tied for second, King University, in its next game Saturday in Bristol, Tenn.
