By Nicholas Kolsin
Women’s Basketball
Highlighted by a dominant 30-14 first quarter, the UNCP Women’s basketball team (5-1) defeated Erskine 70-63 at home on Saturday afternoon.
Hannah Russell had a career game scoring 20 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists and a block. Anastasia Sinclair had 17 points and 6 rebounds in the win. Stella Mollica had 11 assists to add to her 4 points and 7 rebounds.
The Braves started the game off strong with Russell scoring the first 7 points of the game to get an early 7-0 lead. After an Erskine basket, Zaria Clark responded with four points of her own and a Sinclair three to take a 14-2 lead with 6:18 to play in the first quarter. Erskine would respond to this run with a 7-0 run of their own to cut the Braves lead to five. Braves would go on a 11-4 run highlighted by a Natalie Evington three to make it 25-11 with a minute 20 to play. With time winding down in the quarter, Hannah Russell would throw up a layup in the paint as the buzzer sounded to take a 30-14 at the end of the first frame.
The teams would trade baskets for most of the second quarter highlighted by a deep three from Anastasia Sinclair to make the game 43-27. Once again, with time winding down in the quarter, Hannah Russell will receive the ball in the paint and hit another turnaround layup as time expired to give the Braves 49-29 lead at halftime.
The third quarter started slow for the Braves as nobody was able to make a field goal until Zaria Clark hit one with 6:54 left in the quarter. With 3:41 to go in the quarter, Clark would hit another shot in the paint to go up 58-40. While Russell did not end the quarter with a buzzer beater, she did about as close as you can by hitting a free throw with 1 second left in the quarter to take a 63-46 lead into the final frame.
Erskine would win the 4th quarter 14-10, but it was not enough to come all the way back as the Braves won the game 73-60.
The Braves will be back on the road on Tuesday at Belmont Abbey at 5 p.m.
Mens Basketball
The UNCP Mens Basketball Team (3-4) defeated Erskine 94-64 in a dominant performance at home on Saturday Afternoon.
The Braves won the first half 43-19 and were able to coast in the second half for an easy victory. Bradlee Haskell lead the team in scoring with 17 points and three assists. Dallas Gardner had 11 points in his 14 minutes of action. Joe’l Pettiford had 8 points and 10 rebounds.
The teams traded baskets for the first 8 minutes of the game with Erskine taking a 15-13 lead. Ant Anderson took the lead for the Braves with 11:31 in the half and they never looked back. That started a 13-0 run that would make them go up 26-15 with 8:40 to go. Erskine would respond with a 4-0 run to make it 26-19 with 7 to play. JaJuan Carr hit a three to stop their run and forced a timeout. Haskell came out of the timeout and hit a three and got fouled on the next possession hitting both free throws going on a 5-0 run on his own. The Braves would keep the run going on a 17-0 run to end the half to take a 43-19 lead going into half.
Dallas Gardner hit a three coming out of the half to keep the run going. Erskine would score for the first time in 11 minutes with a tree to make it 50-22 with 17 to play in the half. They would go on a 8-2 run coming out of that to make it 52-28. Haskell hit a three to end the run, then Jonathon Kurtas hit a layup and two free throws to go on a 4-0 run on his own.
After a Erskine basket, Quay Watson would hit a three and Elijah Cobb would hit on back to back possessions to go up 70-47 with 7:24 to play. Teams would trade baskets for the rest of the contest with the Braves holding on to win 94-64.
The Braves will be back on the road on Tuesday to face Belmont Abbey at 7:00 p.m.