Women’s Basketball: Royals Outlast Bobcats
Melissa Thomas poured in a game-high 26 points, and the Queens University of Charlotte women's basketball team won the battle on the glass by a 48-20 margin en route to a 70-57 victory over Lees-McRae College (LMC) last Thursday, Jan. 6, in Conference Carolinas play.
Queens (5-5, 4-0 CC) connected on 44.4 percent of its attempts from the floor on the night, including a 48.5 percent clip in the second half, while holding the Bobcats (1-8, 1-3 CC) to a 41.1 percent mark overall and a 37.9 percent showing in the first 20 minutes. The Royals also went a perfect 10-for-10 at the free throw line, while outscoring the Bobcats by a 16-4 margin in second chance points.
Janina Thurau paced a trio of Bobcats in double figures with 14 points, while Chloe Parker and Icey Patterson recorded 12 and 11 markers, respectively. Patterson notched a game-high five assists and four steals, while Parker pulled down a team-best seven rebounds.
Thomas connected on 8-of-13 attempts from the field, and went 8-for-8 at the charity stripe to post a game-high 26 points while also notching a contest-best four steals. Marissa Hudley posted a double-double with 14 points and a game-high 16 rebounds, knocking down 7-of-15 shots from the floor. Shakaria Hamlin chipped in seven points and seven rebounds, while Erin Goldner recorded eight points, three steals, and a team-high three assists.
Queens got off to a strong start, scoring 10 of the game's first 16 points to open a four-point lead on a Hamlin jumper at the 12:59 mark of the first half. LMC responded with a 5-0 spurt to claim a narrow 11-10 advantage on a Parker layup with 11:41 to play in the period.
After a quick basket by the Royals' Sarah Myatt, Flowers and Zukye Smith combined for a trio of three-pointers to propel the Bobcats to a 20-14 lead with 8:22 remaining in the first half. Queens answered with a run of its own, launching a 17-0 run to take a 31-20 advantage on a pair of free throws by Goldner at the 4:05 mark. The Royals then closed out the half with a 10-7 spurt to take a 41-27 lead into the intermission.
LMC opened the second half with two quick baskets by Parker and Patterson to cut the lead to 41-33, and stayed within single-digits for much of the next 12 minutes. With the scoreboard reading 60-53 in favor of Queens with just over five minutes remaining, the Royals took control, closing out the win with a 10-4 run to equal the final margin of 70-57 and remain perfect in conference play.
Men’s Basketball: Queens and Mount Olive Top LMC
The Queens University men's basketball team turned in a solid defensive effort en route to a 70-44 win over LMC on Thursday, Jan. 6, in Conference Carolinas action.
Queens (7-4, 3-0 CC) knocked down an even 50 percent of its field attempts on the night, including a 52 percent clip in the first half, while limiting LMC (3-7, 0-3 CC) to a 30.6 percent mark from the floor. The Royals won the battle on the glass by a 38-30 margin, including a 27-18 advantage on the defensive boards, while converting 18 Bobcats miscues into 18 points.
Adam McFerran led the way for the Bobcats with a double-double, recording game-highs of 16 points and 11 rebounds while knocking down 6-of-13 attempts from the floor. Tevin Friday and Daniel Sepokas chipped in seven and six points, respectively, while Matt Eller recorded a game-high three steals.
Queens' Daniel Bailey equaled McFerran's game-high of 16 points, connecting on 7-of-10 attempts from the floor and grabbing five rebounds to pace the Royals. Reggie Hopkins joined Bailey in double figures with 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting, while David Mason and Sean Eads chipped in with nine and eight markers, respectively. Brent Evans grabbed a team-high nine rebounds for the Royals, while Joshua Twitty, familiar to Avery Vikings fans from his days as a high school standout for the Polk Wolverines, dished out a game-best three assists.
The Royals took command early, opening a 17-5 lead on an Eads triple at the 13:35 mark of the first half. Eads added another three-pointer 30 seconds later to push the lead to 21-5 before Bailey knocked down a jumper with 9:09 left in the period to widen the margin to 25-8. Queens pushed the lead to 33-13 with an 8-5 spurt over the next six and a half minutes, taking a 39-18 lead into the intermission.
Queens carried the momentum into the second half, opening the period with an 8-2 run to push the margin to 47-20 on a Preston Newlin layup at the 17:17 mark. The Royals maintained at least a 20-point lead for the remainder of the game, pushing the margin to as much as 34 points at 64-30 with six minutes left on the clock. The Bobcats finished strong, outscoring the Royals by a 14-6 margin over the final six minutes.
LMC’s scheduled home games and special “Take a Kid to the Game” day promotion scheduled for last Saturday, Jan. 8, against Mount Olive College were postponed a day due to inclement weather. The Mount Olive College men's basketball team shot a blistering 64 percent from the field in the second half en route to an 85-77 come-from-behind victory over LMC last Sunday, Jan. 9,in Conference Carolinas action.
Mount Olive (7-5, 2-2 CC) edged the Bobcats (3-8, 0-4 CC) by a 35-34 margin on the glass, including a 12-10 advantage on the offensive boards, while outscoring LMC by a 17-9 spread in second chance points. Both teams shot well from the field and the free throw line, as Mount Olive posted a 45.6 percent clip from the floor after knocking down 16-of-25 field goal attempts in the second half.
LMC connected on 43.6 percent of its attempts on the afternoon, including 44.4 percent of its shots from beyond the arc. Each team converted at least 80 percent of its attempts at the free throw line, as Mount Olive posted an 81.3 percent mark from the stripe while LMC connected on 84 percent of its chances at the line.
The Bobcats placed five players in double figures for the first time this season, led by senior McFerran, who poured in 20 points and went a perfect 5-for-5 at the free throw line. Dairl Scott, Jr. and Sepokas joined McFerran in double figures with 14 and 13 points, respectively, while Sam Youse and Friday each tallied 10 markers.
Scott also paced the Bobcats with a contest-best eight rebounds, while tying DeAndre Tillman for the game-high with two blocked shots. Reshon Benjamin dished out a game-high six assists, while Tillman recorded a contest-best three steals.
Mount Olive also placed five players in double figures, and was paced by Ewon Wright's game-high 23 points, as the freshman knocked down 5-of-10 attempts from downtown and went 6-for-8 at the charity stripe. Dory Hines joined Wright in double figures with 16 points, connecting on 6-of-8 attempts from the field while grabbing a game-high eight rebounds. Brandon Allen and Derek Stanton each recorded 15 points on the day, while Mahamed Ibrahim chipped in 10 markers.
The Trojans opened the first half strong, taking an early 9-5 lead on a Hines layup at the 15:47 mark before the Bobcats responded, launching a 13-2 run to claim an 18-11 advantage on a jumper by Friday with 9:19 to play in the period.
Mount Olive trimmed the margin to 20-19 on a pair of Staton free throws at the 7:22 mark before LMC answered once again, pushing the lead to 33-23 with a 13-4 spurt that was capped by a Tillman free throw with 3:28 left on the clock. Mount Olive closed out the first half on a strong note, outscoring the Bobcats by a 6-2 margin over the final three minutes to cut the lead to 37-31 at the intermission.
LMC maintained the lead in the early moments of the second half, stretching the advantage to 42-33 on a Scott layup with 18:44 to play. Mount Olive stayed within striking distance for much of the next six minutes until the Trojans caught fire, launching a 7-0 run to take a 60-58 lead on a layup by Aleks Mitrovic at the 9:33 mark.
The Bobcats quickly evened the score on a pair of McFerran free throws before Mount Olive took control, launching a 14-6 run over the next three minutes to take a 74-66 lead on a Wright triple with 4:11 to play. Mount Olive continued its hot shooting over the next several possessions, opening an 81-72 lead on a Wright layup with just over a minute and a half to go.
Stanton converted a pair of free throws with 33 seconds left to give Mount Olive its largest lead of the game at 83-72 before the Bobcats began to rally, forcing two turnovers on back-to-back inbound plays and cutting the lead to 83-77 on a Sepokas triple with 20 ticks remaining. Mount Olive regained control from there, converting a pair of last-second free throws to equal the final margin of 85-77.
LMC returns home to take on St. Andrews this Saturday, Jan. 15, with the women’s contest slated to tip off at 2 p.m. and the men’s game immediately following.
