Women Fall to Mary Baldwin in Overtime in First Round

Cydney Nichols, photo courtesy of Carl Lewis
Cydney Nichols, photo courtesy of Carl Lewis

STAUNTON, Va. - The 5th seeded NC Wesleyan College women's basketball team lost a heartbreaking game in overtime to #4 seed Mary Baldwin University 114-108 on the road in the first round of the USA South Tournament on Wednesday evening.

The Bishops fought valiantly all night as a 30-point second quarter gave them an 8-point lead at the break, 53-45. However, even as they built that advantage to 12 in the third quarter, MBU would not go away as they trimmed Wesleyan's lead down to two heading into the fourth. 

MBU would then take the lead in the fourth and stretch it to 9 points with 90 seconds to play before the Bishops would go on a 13-3 run to force overtime on a three-pointer from USA South 2nd team all-East Division sophomore guard Kayla Johnson. Unfortunately for Wesleyan, their run would run out in overtime as Mary Baldwin outscored the Bishops 15-9 in the extra period to get the first round win.

MBU (17-9) will now advance on to face #2 seed Piedmont College (Ga.) of the West Division in the Quarterfinals on Saturday while NC Wesleyan ends their season 11-15.

The Bishops would put a season-high of seven different women in double-figure scoring for the night led by Johnson and her 20 points with 18 of them coming on her six 3-pointers while fellow sophomore guard Cydney Nichols also scored 20 points on the evening along with a team-high 3 steals. Nichols added four treys to her night. Wesleyan made 13 threes on the night and shot nearly 41 percent overall. However, MBU shot 54 percent and made 15 more free throws than the Bishops making the difference in the end. 

Senior guard Daijah Davis would also end her career with a bang scoring a season-high 14 points with 9 rebounds, an assist, a steal, and a block on the night. Fellow senior guard Nadiya Holley also played well tallying 13 points with 8 rebounds and a team-best 4 assists. Another senior guard Jermaiyah Baker, also tied her season-high in points scoring 12 on 6 of 8 shooting while fellow senior, forward Weslie Young, would also record a double-double of 10 points and 11 rebounds in the loss. Young was also named to the USA South All-Sportsmanship team as well.

The last member of the Bishops to score double digit points was sophomore guard Keorra Taylor with 10 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals with sophomore forward Javana Jones adding 7 points and 4 rebounds as well.

The USA South all-conference team will be released later today as well.