Women's Basketball Southern Conference

Davidson Tops Georgia Southern 85-72 in Women's Basketball Action

Davidson's Emily Callahan scored
a career-high 26 points for
the Wildcats
DAVIDSON, N.C. - Behind a season-high 85 points and a personal-best 26 by sophomore Emily Callahan, the Davidson women's basketball team defeated Georgia Southern, 85-72, Thursday night in Belk Arena. The Wildcats (7-8, 2-4 SoCon) earned their second consecutive victory while Georgia Southern (10-5, 4-2) dropped its second straight.

Down by 10 at the break, Georgia Southern quickly regrouped at the start of the second stanza with a 10-0 run, keyed by two fastbreak layups, to tie the game. A jumper by senior Bethany Schott stopped the bleeding and gave Davidson its first two points of the half almost five minutes in and a 51-49 advantage.

The Wildcats slowly started to extend their lead again and found themselves up by 11, 66-55, after junior Robyn Flewelling nailed a basket with 9:47 left. However, the visiting Eagles made one last run. Seven unanswered free throws by Georgia Southern slashed the deficit to just three, 67-64, with 5:05 showing on the clock.

After trading a couple of baskets, Callahan's third trifecta of the night at 3:03 put Davidson up 74-67 and the Eagles never seriously challenged after that point.

Davidson opened the game scoring six of the first seven points. From there, Georgia Southern battled back to knot the score at 20 and 22, but could not grab the lead. A few minutes later, the Wildcats used a 9-2 spurt to gain some breathing room.

In the opening half, Davidson shot 57.1 percent (20-of-35) from the floor and took a 47-37 lead into the break.

"Our focus in this game was to prevent the second shot" said Davidson head coach Annette Watts. "We did just that by outrebounding them tonight."

Callahan led all players in scoring on 9-for-12 (75 percent) shooting. Schott earned her third double-double of the season with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Junior guard Ashley Hallsted was 7-of-7 from the charity stripe and finished with 18 points.

Shawnica Hill had a team-high 21 points for Georgia Southern. Three other players were in double figures including Jessica Everett who had a double-double of her own (14 points, 10 rebounds).

Davidson is back in action this Saturday, Jan. 18, when the Wildcats host Appalachian State during "Take a Kid to the Game" day. Starting time is slated for 3 p.m. Georgia Southern continues its road trip Saturday at Western Carolina. Tip-off is scheduled for 2 p.m.