Box Score by Doug Page
WILSON, N.C. – Redshirt senior Alex Kimble and senior Karimah Dean combined to score 43 points on Tuesday night as the Barton College women's basketball team defeated North Greenville University 82-63 in Conference Carolinas action.
The Lady Bulldogs (14-5, 9-2) have now won 11 straight games for the first time since winning 14 consecutive games during the 2010-11 season. The Crusaders (4-13, 3-7) had a rough start to the night, going 2-of-14 from the field in the first quarter. North Greenville looked to trim the deficit in the second half, outscoring BC 23-17 in the third quarter.
Kimble finished the contest with 22 points for Barton, going 9-of-10 at the free-throw line. Dean tallied 17 second-half points for the Lady Bulldogs while adding five rebounds to her stat line. Junior Kianna Wynn notched a double-double for BC as she recorded 13 points to go along with 14 rebounds. Junior Dinah Neal added 10 points for Barton, while freshman Shanika Peterkin tallied seven points, six rebounds, one block, and three steals.
The Crusaders were led by 17 points from Cameron Carter, who went 5-of-11 from the field and 3-of-8 from downtown. Karen Donehew tallied 15 points on 4-of-8 shooting for NGU while adding six rebounds, three assists, and three steals. Bailey Breazeale recorded 10 points for the Crusaders before fouling out late in the contest.
Both sides would remain scoreless to start the game until Wynn finished a layup for BC with 9:05 remaining to make it 2-0. NGU quickly responded by draining a three as Donehew gave her team a 3-2 lead. Wynn worked to put the Lady Bulldogs back in front, converting another layup with 7:20 left in the quarter to make it 4-3. She kept her streak going by hitting a jumper to give BC a 6-3 advantage before the Crusaders trimmed the gap to 6-5 after a layup from Natalie Averett.
Barton used a 9-0 run with 5:22 left in the quarter to open a comfortable lead as Kimble started the run by hitting four consecutive free-throws. Leading 10-5, senior Taura Jones hit a three to give the Lady Bulldogs a 13-5 edge. NGU ended its scoring drought by hitting a pair of free-throws with 2:00 left on the clock. The Crusaders would trim the deficit to 15-9 before Kimble upped the lead back to 18-9 with a three for Barton.
With 4:48 left in the second quarter, Kimble converted two free-throws to give BC a 10-point lead at 30-20. Ayano Shelton hit a jumper for NGU to cut the BC lead to 34-25 with 2:25 remaining. Barton finished the quarter on a 5-0 run to take a 39-25 lead into the locker room as Kimble would sink a three with 50 seconds left on the clock.
The Crusaders came out for the third quarter looking to cut into the BC lead and would connect on 64.7 percent of their shots in the quarter, going 11-of-17 from the field. The Lady Bulldogs, although being outscored, would keep pace by hitting 7-of-16 attempts from the floor. Trailing 42-29, NGU rallied to trim the gap to 42-36 as Breazeale made a layup following a three from Carter. The teams would trade buckets with time winding down in the quarter as BC would get the last points thanks to a layup from Dean to make it 56-48 with four seconds left.
The Lady Bulldogs would put the game out of reach with 2:30 left in the fourth quarter as Neal hit a pair of free-throws to cap a 12-0 run by BC. The run would see NGU go over four minutes without a field goal as the deficit ballooned to 23 points until Carter swished a three with 2:15 left to make it 80-60.
Barton out-rebounded North Greenville 46-29 in the contest including a 19-6 advantage in offensive rebounds. The Crusaders committed 26 turnovers in the contest, resulting in BC tallying 18 points off those miscues. BC committed 21 turnovers of its own, allowing NGU to score 14 points. The Lady Bulldogs made the most of second-chance opportunities and fast breaks, scoring 18 points and 14 points respectively. The Lady Bulldogs finished the game 27-of-67 from the floor, while North Greenville finished 24-of-54 from the floor. Barton held a big edge in trips to the charity stripe, going 24-of-31, while the Crusaders went 10-of-16.
The Lady Bulldogs hit the road for back-to-back Conference Carolinas matchups against King University on Jan. 26 and Lees-McRae College on Jan. 27. BC returns home to host Limestone at 5:30 p.m. on Jan. 31.
