RALEIGH, N.C. - The NC Wesleyan College women's hoops team completed a wild 20-point comeback in the second half by rallying to knock off conference rival William Peace 71-69 on the road Friday evening.
Wesleyan struggled to shoot the ball going just 34 percent from the field and getting outscored in the 2nd quarter 26-13 and 43-25 overall in the half. The third quarter was more of the same as well as the Pacers shot an impressive 53 percent, but the Bishops fought back to win the quarter 20-18 and creep within 16 points heading into the fourth.
This is where the defending East Division Champs showed their toughness and determination rallying all the way back to dominate the fourth 26-8 shooting 45 percent and 50 percent from long-range. Wesleyan would slowly and methodically get to within 7 points at 69-62 with 4 minutes to play making their free throws and playing strong defense before shutting out the Pacers over the final four minutes.
Wesleyan then used a three and a layup from senior guard Kayla Johnson to get within two before Nadia Simmons tied the game at 69 with her layup at the 1:17 mark. Missed shots and free throws by the Pacers then left the door wide open for the Bishops to steal the win and that they did as guard Deonna Adams made the game-winning layup at the buzzer. She finished with 7 points and 2 assists.
Johnson ended up leading the Bishops with 18 points and four 3-pointers while fellow senior wing Javana Jones played terrific ball off the bench scoring a season-high 16 points to go with 8 rebounds and a block in the win. It was Jones' most points scored since the 2018-19 season when she scored a career high of 23.
Sophomore forward Johnay Goddard also scored double-digit points in her first start of the season tallying 11 points with 8 rebounds while fellow forward Simmons led the team with 9 boards and scored 6 points. Senior PG Keorra Taylor then led the team with 4 assists while scoring 4 points, grabbing five rebounds, blocking a shot and picking up a steal.
The Bishops improve to 14-10 on the year with their 3rd straight win and 12-5 in the East while dropping WPU to 3-20 overall and 2-15 in the Division.
Wesleyan gets right back to action on Saturday when they host Averett and former asst. coach Desiree Driver in their home finale at 2 PM.