Women's Basketball Southern Conference

SoCon Women's Basketball Results for January 5

East Tennessee State women's basketball tops College of Charleston, 81-51

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (Jan. 5, 2004) - Senior forward Jessica Lonon (Sylvania, Ga.) scored a season-high 16 points and junior center Tiffani Mayes (Sumter, S.C.) added 15, as East Tennessee State (5-7, 5-2 SoCon) won its fifth straight game at home by defeating College of Charleston (1-9, 1-5 SoCon) Monday night, 81-51, from Memorial Center.

"Defensively I can't say enough about this team," said ETSU head coach Karen Kemp. "We threw some different looks at them and got some energy from our defense, then our offense just fed off of that."

ETSU tallied 16 steals, led by four different players who recorded three apiece, and forced 25 Cougar turnovers. Charleston never seemed to get its offense in sync - the team's leading scorer, Patrice Bryant, and Carrie Geden each scored eight points, as did Erica Nesmith, who came off of the bench. Overall, the ETSU bench contributed 40 points to the winning cause. The only player on the roster not to score was red-shirt sophomore Candace Gibson (Warner Robbins, Ga.). However, Gibson managed to pick up the slack on the defensive end with seven rebounds, a season-best, and tied Mayes for the team-high.

Meanwhile, the Lady Bucs shot over 50 percent from the floor for the first time since Nov. 29, 2001 by converting on 52.5 percent of their shots, including 6-of-10 from beyond the arc.

Freshman Holly Moring (Irmo, S.C.) provided an immediate spark in the first half by connection on all three of her shots from the perimeter and finished with nine points.

The Lady Bucs have now won six straight games at home dating back to last season, while College of Charleston has yet to pick up a victory on the road in three tries.

East Tennessee State will travel to Davidson on Saturday, Jan. 10 for a 3 p.m. game versus the Wildcats. ETSU hasn't won on the road this season, either, and will be trying to snap a seven-game winless streak away from Johnson City.

College of Charleston, which was scheduled to play four games this week, will be in action again on Thursday, Jan. 8, when the Cougars travel to Rock Hill, S.C. to face Winthrop in a non-conference game. The Cougars will return home to host Elon on Saturday, Jan. 10 with tipoff scheduled for 2 p.m. in John Kresse Arena.


Lady Mocs' Top Georgia Southern, 70-32

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. -- Chattanooga's best defensive effort in school history helped the Lady Mocs run their winning streak to 10 in a 70-32 win over Georgia Southern Monday night at McKenzie Arena.

The Lady Mocs held the Eagles to just 12.7 percent shooting (8-for-63) and the 32 points marked the lowest output ever by a Chattanooga opponent. The previous low was 37 by Austin Peay on Dec. 3, 1988. UTC's streak ties for the fourth longest in school history and pushes the season slate to 12-2 overall and 7-0 in the Southern Conference. Georgia Southern drops to 6-5 and 3-3 with its third straight setback, all on the road.

Chattanooga scored the game's first 15 points and never looked back en route to the biggest differential in the 30-game series between the schools. Georgia Southern missed its first 13 field goals and never recovered.

"Georgia Southern is so athletic and so good at getting to the offensive boards, we tried to make them hit some tough shots and hopefully just give them one look at the basket," UTC coach Wes Moore said. "Fortunately, they had a tough night shooting the ball and our kids took advantage of it. We still need to get better offensively, execute better and take care of the ball."

Katasha Brown scored 16 points to pace the Lady Mocs, while Miranda Warfield and Nicole Mattison chipped in 13. Tiffani Roberson added a dozen. Mattison's output was her career high, plus she tied with Tiffany Patton for the team rebounding lead with nine. Mattison also picked up four assists and two steals.

Even with a 31-10 halftime edge, the Lady Mocs did not let up their intensity in the second half, pushing the advantage to as much as 41 points midway through the final half. The largest cushion was 65-23 with just under four minutes left.

"In the first five minutes of the second half, we wanted to set the tone again," Moore said. "We didn't want them to get hot and get back in the game."

Georgia Southern came into the game as the best rebounding team in the league, but Chattanooga won the board war 46-45. Brown added six rebounds and Warfield five. Heather McDivitt picked up five assists and Roberson grabbed three steals.

No Georgia Southern player reached double figures. Eight points by Jessica Everett led the visitors, while Shawnica Hill added seven. The Eagles had 21 turnovers and just four assists. They were 1-for-9 on 3-pointers, but hit 15-of-21 free throws.

The Lady Mocs hit the road for their next three games, starting Saturday with a 4 p.m. date at Western Carolina. Georgia Southern returns home Saturday to host UNC Greensboro.

Bradshaw Nets 18 as Lady Terriers Drop Conference Game to Furman
Despite a game-high 18 points from junior guard Brie Bradshaw (Cincinnati, Ohio), the Wofford Lady Terriers suffered a 70-40 defeat to conference rival Furman in the Benjamin Johnson Arena Monday evening. Bradshaw netted double-figures for the first time in five games and for the eighth time this season on 6-of-16 (37.5 pct.) shooting from the field and 6-of-6 from the foul line.

Wofford was unable to manuever around the stingy Lady Paladin defense. From the opening tip, the Lady Terriers were faced with either a full-court or half-court press and trapping scheme that disrupted much of their offensive opportunities.

On its own offensive end, Furman fed the ball to the low block often, where center Orion Wake took over and finished with a double-double on 12 points and 13 rebounds. Guard Tommi Paris paced the Lady Paladins with 14 points, including an 8-of-8 effort from the charity stripe.

Furman rattled off nine straight points to open the contest before a Nakia Mister (Irmo, S.C.) layup put Wofford on the board at 16:23. The Lady Paladins opened their lead to as much as 17 in the opening session before Wofford brought it within 32-21 at the break.

The second half opened similar to the first with Furman scoring the first 16 points before Bradshaw knocked home a jumper at 14:39. The Lady Paladins continued their pressing defense to put the game away.

Mister finished with eight points, while freshman K.C. Correll (Gastonia, N.C.) registered five points and five rebounds.

With the loss, Wofford drops to 0-13 overall and 0-7 in the Southern Conference. Furman improves to 5-6 and 2-2 in the league.

The Lady Terriers will play their final non-conference game of the season Saturday, Jan. 10 against UNC Asheville. The tip-off is slated for 3 p.m. in the Benjamin Johnson Arena.

Elon Trio Powers Phoenix Past UNCG

ELON, N.C. -- Elon's deadly trio of Holly Andrews, Brianne Gray and Courtney Nyborg combined for 57 of Elon's total points to power the Phoenix (7-5, 3-2 Southern Conference) to a 77-66 victory over Triad rival UNC Greensboro (3-10, 3-3) in women's basketball action on Monday night at Alumni Gym. The win is the fourth in a row for the Phoenix who avenged a 51-64 loss to the Spartans in Greensboro last year.

The Phoenix grabbed the biggest lead of the first half, a 9-2 margin, on a Gray (11 points, game-high 11 rebounds) lay-up with 18:36 remaining in the stanza. The Spartans would whittle away at the lead, eventually taking a 13-12 lead with 15:08 left in the period on an Amanda Eaton (18 points, four assists) three pointer. After six ties over the remainder of the period, UNCG would build a six point edge with 2:17 left in the half on a Jacinda Lambert (21 points, eight rebounds, six assists, four steals) fast break lay-up in the paint. The Phoenix would trail the Spartans 44-39 going into the break.

After trading buckets for the for the first four and a half minutes of play in the second half, Elon tied the game at 48 on two free throws from Rasalynn Jones (two points, five rebounds, three steals). An Andrews (game-high 34 points, four rebounds, four assists, three steals) steal and fast break bucket gave Elon a 50-48 lead that it would not relinquish over the final 15:16 of play. Elon's lead would grow to as many as 12 points in the second half.

Gray's double-double was the second of her career. Nyborg ended the night with 12 points and five blocks for the Phoenix, two shy of her own school record. Andrews, the SoCon's leading scorer, finished the evening a perfect 11-of-11 from the charity stripe and now has 1,337 career points, 16 points shy of moving into sixth in Elon women's basketball history. This was her third career 30+ point outing.

The Spartans also received 15 markers and eight rebounds from Lindsey Reed.

UNCG tallied more points in the paint than did Elon, 22-20. The Spartans also held advantages in points off turnovers (14-13), second chance points (15-9) and fast break points (10-6). UNCG grabbed 46 rebounds, including 21 offensive boards, to Elon's 36 caroms. The Phoenix rejected six shots to zero for the Spartans. Turnovers were even at 15 and steals were 8-7 in favor of the Spartans.

The win improves Elon to 24-2 at home since the start of the 2001-02 season.

The Phoenix heads to Charleston, S.C. for a 2:00 p.m. contest at College of Charleston on Saturday, while UNCG will travel to Statesboro, Ga. for a 5:15 tip with Georgia Southern.