By Nicholas Kolsin
Women’s Basketball
The UNCP Women’s basketball team (15-4) defeated the Converse University Valkyries (4-13) 64-59 lead by a strong 4th quarter. Zaria Clark lead the team with 18 points, while Stella Mollica followed up with 14 points and 6 assists.
The Braves went into the 4th quarter down 3 needing a big quarter to come away with the victory. The Braves were outscored 21-16 in the third quarter and could not find a stop on defense. Clark got the quarter started for the Braves with a nice layup in the paint 10 seconds in to cut the Valkyries lead to just one.
The teams then traded baskets for the next two minutes until Stella Mollica hit a huge three to take a two point lead with 7:20 to go in the contest. The Valkyries tied the game back up on the next possession after a layup in the paint. Anastasia Sinclair would then come down and hit a tough and one layup, converting the free throw to go back up 3.
After a Converse bucket, Mollica would hit another huge three to make it a two possession game going up by 4 with 5:17 to go. Converse would match the Braves three with a three of their own to bring it back to one. After trading baskets, Zaria Clark and Hannah Russell would get fouled on back to back possessions going 4/4 at the line to take a 5 point lead with 2:21 to play.
Up by 4 with 35 seconds left, Kelci Adams would get the ball in the paint and hit a layup to take a 6 point lead and put the game away for good.
The Braves will be back in action on Jan. 29 to take on the Barton College Bulldogs.
Men’s Basketball
The UNCP Braves Men’s Basketball team (11-6) fell to the Converse Valkyries (7-9) 76-68 on Saturday afternoon.
It was a tale of two halves for the Braves after winning the first half 42-29, the Braves unraveled in the second half losing it 47-26 to eventually lose the game. The Braves just could not get the shots to fall from three in the second half shooting an abysmal 1-10 from beyond the arc after shooting 6-9 in the first half. The Braves also struggled from the free throw line in the second half shooting 5-13 (38%).
The Braves also struggled with turnovers in the game, turning the ball over 20 times to the Valkyries 13.
The Valkyries came out of half on a run scoring 6 straight to cut the lead to seven just over a minute into the half. After the Braves brought the lead back to nine, Converse was able to rattle off seven straight points to cut the lead to two with 11:28 in the game.
The Braves lost the lead on a big three by Converse, Jay Mitchell which gave them a one point lead with just under 8 minutes to play. The Valkyries kept pouring it on as they would hit two more threes and a layup unanswered to go up by nine with 5:22 to play.
Josh Berenbaum would cut the lead to five with three minutes to play but the damage had alsready been done for the Braves as they were not able to come back into the game, losing 76-68.
The Braves will be back in action on Jan. 29 at Barton College.