Boxscore and play-by-play

Eighth-seeded Mount Olive continued their Cinderella run with a stunning 62-56 win over top-seed and host IUP in a quarterfinal game of the NCAA Division II East Regional. 

The Trojans (21-10), who had to win the Conference Carolinas tournament to qualify for the NCAA East Regional, limited  IUP (27-5) to a mere 17 second half points.

Neither team led by more than six points in a tightly contested second half.  Mount Olive took the lead for good with 8:59 left in the game when Tomeka Prichard connected on a three-pointer to give the Trojans a 52-50 lead. 

A Jahzinga Tracey bucket pulled IUP within a point at 57-56 with 2:22 remaining, but the Crimson Hawks did not dent the scoreboard again.  An Alisa Jones basket and three made free throws down the stretch from Monroe and Helen Moore sealed the deal for Mount Olive.

Monroe led Mount Olive with 16 points while Keona Corley added 10.  Tracey accounted for a game-high 17 points for IUP.  Hillary Shope scored all 12 of her points in the first half.

The contest was even in almost every statistical category.  Both teams shot just under 39 percent from the field and the Trojans won the rebounding battle 43-41.  IUP committed 18 turnovers to Mount Olive's 16, with the Crimson Hawks making 12 miscues in the second half.

IUP overcame a slow start to lead by as many as nine on three occasions in the opening half.  However, Mount Olive closed the half with a 5-0 spurt to only trail 39-35 at the break.  The Trojans extended their run to 11-0 by scoring the first six points of the second half. 

<back to top>