The Belmont Abbey women's basketball team cut a 12-point second-half deficit down to two, but Mount Olive used a game-ending 9-2 run to hold on for a 62-52 victory over the Crusaders in Conference Carolinas women's basketball Thursday at the Wheeler Center. The contest was a battle between the second and third place teams in the conference standings. The contest was delayed 30 minutes due to Mount Olive's bus being stalled in traffic on Interstate 85 outside of Concord, North Carolina due to an overturned 18-wheeler.

Shayla Jackson led Belmont Abbey with 14 points, while Jasmine Whitby had a game-high 15 points for Mount Olive.

Belmont Abbey (11-10 overall, 10-5 Conference Carolinas) was down 46-34 with exactly 12 minutes left in the game after Andrea Jones converted a three-point play for Mount Olive (15-6 overall, 12-3 Conference Carolinas). Paula Regalado answered with a three-point play of her own on the Crusaders' next possession and Melisa Foures sank a pair of free throws to cut the Trojans' lead to 48-43 with 9:34 left.

Both teams went scoreless over the next three minutes until Kelsey Long hit a layup for Belmont Abbey with 6:21 remaining to make it a one-possession game. Jasmine McDonald, who scored Mount Olive's last basket with just under 11 minutes left, ended the Trojans' five-minute scoring drought with a layup.

Jackson, who on Wednesday was named the recipient of a $6,000 NCAA Ethnic Minority and Women's Enhancement Postgraduate Scholarship for Careers in Athletics, converted a three-point play with 5:38 remaining to pull Belmont Abbey within 50-48. The two-point margin was the closest since the opening minute of the second half, but that was as close as the Crusaders would get.

After Alyssa Luebs scored the game's next three points, Candace Fox made it a one-possession game again after her jumper drew Belmont Abbey within 53-50 with 4:30 left to play. But that would be the Crusaders' last field goal of the game.

Joneiqua Gary hit a three-pointer on Mount Olive's next possession and Luebs added a basket after a Crusader turnover to extend the Trojans' lead to 58-50 with 2:58 left to play. After a Belmont Abbey miss, Gary's basket with 2:27 remaining pushed the margin to double figures to stay.

In the first half, Belmont Abbey rallied from a six-point deficit to take a 21-20 lead with 2:10 remaining. Mount Olive scored the next six points and went into the locker room with a 26-23 halftime lead.

Jackson pulled the Crusaders within a point with a basket 40 seconds into the second half, but Whitby hit a three on Mount Olive's next possession and the Trojans went on to build a double-digit lead.

Foures and Regalado finished with 10 points apiece for Belmont Abbey. Foures also pulled down a team-high seven rebounds. The Crusaders were 20-for-24 from the free throw line, but were limited to 30 percent shooting from the field.

Jones scored 14 points for Mount Olive, while Gary finished with 12 points, the last five coming in the final four-plus minutes. Whitby and Brittany Miller shared game-high honors with eight rebounds apiece. Whitby also led all players with six assists.