November 27, 2005
Lady Monarch rally comes up short in 71-61 defeat against Piedmont
Harris selected to All-Classic team for Methodist/InnKeeper Turkey Shootout

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. – After dropping a tough double-overtime decision against LaGrange on Saturday, the Methodist Lady Monarch women’s basketball team showed tremendous effort and grit on Sunday against Piedmont. However, the visiting Lions had too many weapons and pulled out a 71-61 victory over Methodist in the Methodist/InnKeeper Turkey Shootout at the Riddle Center.

Methodist drops to 2-3 overall with the defeat.

After trailing by 12 points at halftime, Methodist trailed by as much as 20 points three times in the second half. However, the Lady Monarchs made a late charge as they found the distance from 3-point range. Geya Norwood-Shaw’s 3-point basket at the 6:36 mark trimmed the Piedmont lead to 61-50.

A minute late, freshman forward Ann Forsberg drained a 3-point basket to cut the Lion lead to 63-53, but that was as close as the Lady Monarchs would get. Lay-ups by Sarah Duncan and Sheena Trimiar pushed the Piedmont lead to 67-53 with 4:17 remaining. Another lay-up by Sarah Layne made the Lion lead 71-58 with 2:22 remaining.

Piedmont crashed the boards hard, out-rebounding Methodist 48-30. The Lions had 24 rebounds on the offensive end, resulting in 18 second-chance points.

Outside of the early moments of the game, the closest Methodist trimmed the Piedmont lead was five points in the first half. Courtney Bissette drained three straight free throws to cut the Lion lead to 22-17 with 6:42 remaining. However Piedmont responded with an 10-2 run to lead 32-19 with 4:30 remaining.

Piedmont’s largest lead in the first half was 15 points on three occasions.

Doris Richards scored 11 points to pace Methodist, followed by Forsberg with nine points, eight points from Kristen Whitehurst and seven points each from Stacy Williams and Ashley Harris. Nikki Sosebee paced Piedmont (4-1) with 18 points, while Jamie Boyce added 10 points off the bench.

Harris was selected to All-Classic team for Methodist, along with Sosebee and Beth Adcock for Piedmont. Rounding out the All-Tournament team was Ferrum’s Aline Alzime and LaGrange’s Lindsey Moore. Adcock was selected the Most Valuable Player of the Methodist/InnKeeper Turkey Shootout.

Methodist hits the road on Wednesday at 7 p.m., renewing its in-state rivalry at Meredith.