Limestone's defense propels Saints to conference tournament title
CONCORD, N.C. – Behind a 16-point performance from
tournament Most Outstanding Player Alicia Brookins, the Limestone
College Saints won the Conference Carolinas Tournament powered by
OrthoCarolina and claimed an automatic berth into the NCAA
Tournament, defeating the University of Mount Olive 61-41.
Brookins’ game-high 16 points and eight rebounds were
instrumental for the Saints (24-5), who led the game from start to
finish. Brookins and Amber Wright combined to score
Limestone’s first five points before Brookins picked up a
quick second foul and spent most of the remainder of the half on
the bench. But the Saints’ offense didn’t miss a beat,
jumping out to a 20-6 lead 12 minutes into the contest and never
letting up throughout.
Mount Olive (18-11) pulled to within 9-6 seven minutes into the
game behind a Kirksten Mitchell triple and a jumper by Jasmine
McDonald, who were both named to the all-conference tournament
team. But Limestone responded with an 11-0 run over the next 4:26, with five field
goals by five different shooters. When Ayshia McNeil nailed a
jumped in the paint at the 8:34 mark of the first half, Limestone held a
14-point lead and would never see their advantage dwindle to less
than ten points during the rest of the game.
While the Saints controlled the game with suffocating defense and
timely shots that seemed to always stifle potential Trojans’
runs, the most deflating came midway through the second stanza.
Mount Olive used a Joneiqua Gary three-point basket to pull within
ten points with 11:15 to play, and the Trojans’ bench was
lifted by the surge of momentum. Limestone again answered
definitively, however, using a 17-2 run to build a 25-point
advantage with three minutes to play and holding Mount Olive
without a field goal until Katie Paschal’s layup with 1:27 remaining.
Although the Saints had three players reach double figures, the
difference in the game was Limestone’s suffocating defense,
which held Mount Olive to 21.8 percent shooting from the floor and
12 made field goals. The 41 points allowed were the second-fewest
scored against the Saints all season, and Mount Olive had the
second-lowest shooting percentage of any team to face Limestone.
The Trojans shot just 11.1 percent from behind the arc and were
limited to 12 points in the paint.
Gary led the Trojans with ten points, while Jasmine McDonald
pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds and scored seven points. For
Limestone, all-conference tournament selections Celestra Warren and
Jasmine Kearse joined Brookins in double figures with 12 and 11
points, respectively. Warren also had ten rebounds. The Saints
scored 22 points off 16 Mount Olive turnovers while committing just
eight of their own. Limestone also held a 26-12 advantage in points
in the paint.
With the win, Limestone clinches Conference Carolinas’
automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament and will await to hear their
destination, which will be announced on NCAA.com on Sunday at 10:00 p.m.