Jarae Savage and the Women’s team participated in the Navy Tournament over the weekend

By Terrence Hinds, Staff Writer

Published in print Dec 3, 2014.

The UNCG Women’s basketball team traveled to Annapolis, Maryland to take part in the Navy Classic tournament over the Thanksgiving weekend.  In two matches, the Blue and Gold fought hard but were defeated in their two games over the weekend.  Coming off a victory against Longwood on November 24, the team had sights to extend their winning streak by the weekend’s conclusion. However, in two contest against Navy and Northern Kentucky, the team dropped to 2-4 as Wendy Palmer’s team was unable to scrap a victory together.

Game 1: UNCG vs Navy

The Spartans took on the Navy Midshipmen in their first game of the tournament. The contest was a back and forth game, but the Blue and Gold eventually fell to the Navy 71-64.

This loss put the teams below .500 for the season.

Navy was able to execute from the three-point line and took advantage from deep. The Midshipmen were able to hit 8 out of their 20 shots from three which hurt the Spartans defense. Navy was also able to exploit free points as the team hit 19 of 23 from the free throw line.

Senior guard Jessica Collins led the Spartans in points. Collins scored 16 points to go along with five rebounds and three steals.

Collins was aggressive from the jump ball and her team needed her to be so in order to stay in the game. The 16 points is a season high for her thus far in the early season.

Sophomore Jade Scaife was able to chip in with 15 points of her own, which tied a career high for her. She only missed one shot the entire game, shooting efficiently by hitting six out of seven shot attempts. Scaife, from Fort Washington, Maryland played in front of her family and friends Friday afternoon.

Other players that contributed to the Spartans were Lucy Mason and Jazmine Missouri. Mason had 13 points, 11 of which came in the second half.

Missouri was able to apply a ton of defensive pressure to the Midshipmen and was able to come up with three steals during the game.

Statistically,
the Blue and Gold finished 26-for-62 from the field for a 41.9 percent and was 9-of-12 from the free throw line.

Defensively, the Spartans forced 28 turnovers for Navy that resulted in 24 points for UNCG and earned 13 steals.

Both teams grabbed 32 rebounds but the Spartans held a 17-11 margin on the offensive glass.

For the Friday game, the Spartans chances to leave the evening with a victory took a major blow after halftime when Navy was able to come out and go on an  11-0 run to go up 32-27.

The closest the Blue and Gold got after that was 40 to 39 but the three point shooting proved to be too much for them to overcome. Peri Curtis of Navy hit one on the very next possession that carried the Navy to their seven-point win.

Game 2: UNCG vs Northern Kentucky

The last game of the tournament for the Spartans was against the Northern Kentucky Norse, a team that the Spartans have never faced before in the history of the program.

In their final match-up of the Thanksgiving weekend, UNCG was never able to get the lead in this game and the final score of 66-58 makes the game look closer than it actually was.

The Spartans only shot 34.5 percent from the floor and only made seven field goals in the first half of the game.

The free throw line played a major role in the outcome of this game. The Spartans were only able to hit 16 of their 31 shots from the charity stripe.

Sophomore guard Shanese Harris led the team with 14 points on 5-of-7 from the field with four rebounds and two steals. Junior guard Lucy Mason again finished with 13 points (five for ten from the field) along with three rebounds and tying  her career high with five steals.

Sophomore guard Bailey Williams had a season-high eight points, including two threes in the contest.

The Blue and Gold return home to host Big South Fonference foe Gardner-Webb Friday, December 5 at 7 p.m. at Fleming Gymnasium.