Story Courtesy Wofford sports information
Wofford 70, Furman 69
SPARTANBURG, SC - With nine-tenths (00:00.9) of a second showing on the clock in regulation, junior Mary Jo Yee stepped to the foul line and hit all three of her free throws to cap a thrilling 70-69 come-from-behind victory for the Wofford women's basketball team Saturday afternoon over visiting Furman in the Benjamin Johnson Arena.
With the Terriers down two, the Lady Paladins held possession with under a minute to play. Wofford then forced a turnover with just six seconds remaining. The in-bound pass found the hands of Yee, who drove to the left wing and attempted a 3-pointer. The shot was wide but in the process of shooting, she was fouled by Furman defender Lauren Few which set up the dramatic moment at the charity stripe.
Yee's free tosses capped a 13-2 run over the final 3:17 of the game for the Terriers after the Lady Paladins' Sarah Baker hit a free throw of her own to give Furman a 67-57 edge.
The first half of action saw both teams trading buckets with neither team taking more than a four-point lead over the first 10 minutes.
Following a Kate Dempsey layup with 9:23 to play in the half to put Wofford (5-10, 1-5 SoCon) ahead 20-19, the Lady Paladins responded with a 9-0 run to take a 28-20 advantage with 6:13 remaining on a 3-pointer by Princess Wells. Furman continued to increase its advantage and saw its lead swell to as high as 12 on a pair of free throws by Melynda Gant with 1:34 left.
A Jenny Weurding bucket and Liz Miller trey right before the halftime buzzer brought the Terriers with 36-29 at the break.
The Lady Paladins maintained at least a seven-point cushion through the opening four minutes of the second stanza. With a Wells layup giving Furman (7-9, 3-3 SoCon) a nine-point edge at the 17:13 mark, Wofford then pulled within two, 42-40, on a 7-0 run kick started by another Weurding basket. The other five points in the spurt were scored by Kelsi Koenig, including her only 3-pointer of the contest.
Once again the visitors would not back down as they built a 14-point lead over the next four minutes on back-to-back free throws from Tommi Parris with 10:35 to play. The charity stripe tosses capped a 14-2 Lady Paladin streak.
Wofford kept chiseling away at the lead and brought the deficit down to six, 60-54, on a Yee 3-pointer with 5:38 remaining.
Four Terrier starters finished in double-figure scoring, led by 17 from Nakia Mister. Joining her in reaching the double-digit plateau were Koenig (13), Yee (12) and Miller (11). Koenig and Yee finished a combined 7-of-7 from the foul line, while Yee and Miller totaled six 3-pointers among them.
Miller's 11 points ties her career-best outing, which she had set Nov. 26, 2005, against North Carolina A&T.
Mister also collected a game-high tying seven rebounds, matching the caroms corralled by Furman's Jessica Lange.
The other Wofford starter, Summer Nichols, finished with six points, five rebounds, a career-high five assists and her first collegiate blocked shot. Weurding added two blocks of her own to raise her career tally to 149, 20 shy of the all-time Terrier record held by Lucy Hines (1997-2001).
Three players led the Lady Paladins with 11 points apiece, including Lange. She also swated a game-high five Wofford shots. Joining her were Baker and Gant. Few also dished out a game-high six assists.
Story Courtesy Davidson sports information
Davidson 71, Georgia Southern 52
DAVIDSON, NC - Senior Janell Crayton (Atlanta, Ga.) poured in a game-high 21 points, junior Tia Washington (Charlotte, N.C.) tied her career-high of 10 assists, and sophomore Danielle Hemerka (Blackwood, N.J.) had her first career double-double with 17 points and a game-high 11 rebounds as the Davidson women's basketball team was a 71-52 winner over the visiting Georgia Southern Eagles on Saturday afternoon.
The Wildcats moved to 4-2 in Southern Conference play and 8-7 overall, while the Eagles dropped only its second game in the last six to fall to 3-3 in the SoCon and 6-9 overall.
Davidson came out of the gates shooting, making seven of its first 12 shots, including two three-pointers by sophomore Honna Housley (Riceville, Tenn.), to take a 17-6 lead with 12:40 left in the half. Housley was perfect from the field, hitting all three of her shots and finished with eight points off the bench.
Behind a 16-5 run, the Eagles regained the lead, 22-21, with 7:34 on the clock on a jumper by Ashley Melson. The freshman guard scored six of her team-high 11 points during the run.
Then Hemerka sparked a Wildcat 8-0 run with a jumper from the wing and Davidson took back the lead at 29-22 with 2:09 to go in the half. The Wildcats got thee more points from Hemerka in the closing minutes and led 32-26 at halftime.
Washington and Crayton combined to score six points in the first three and half minutes of the second stanza and Davidson had a 12-point lead at 40-28. Washington finished with six points, six rebounds, and three steals to go along with her 10 assists.
Later, Georgia Southern cut the lead down to four points, 47-43, at the 10:23 mark when Lee DuBose hit a three-ball from the right wing. Davidson came right back though, with a 10-2 run to push its lead back out to 12 points at 57-45 with 5:46 left in the game. Hemerka netted six of the points in the run.
JuniorJessica Mitchell (Wilkesboro, N.C.) put the game out of reach at the 1:56 mark when she hit her team leading 24th three-pointer on the year and Davidson led 69-52. The three helped Mitchell hit for double-figures for the fifth straight game as she earned 10 points.
The Wildcats finished out with two free throws by Washington and cruised to the 71-52 SoCon win.
For the ninth time this year, the Wildcats placed three scorers in double-digits and shot 46.6 percent from the field. Davidson held the Eagles to 30.1 percent shooting, 27.0 percent in the second half, and pocketed 12 steals. The Wildcats also had a season-high 23 assists.
DuBose had 10 points to give Georgia Southern two players in double-figures, while Shawda Atwood chipped in with eight points and eight rebounds. The Eagles hauled in 24 of their 42 rebounds on the offensive end.
Story Courtesy UNC Greensboro sports information
UNC Greensboro 85, Appalachian State 71
GREENSBORO, NC ? Junior guard Jasmine Byrd scored a game-high 20 points to lead the UNC Greensboro women’s basketball team to an 85-71 victory over Appalachian State in Southern Conference action Saturday afternoon at Fleming Gym.
Byrd, the native of Dumfries, VA, led UNCG (6-8, 2-3 SoCon) with her second 20-point game of the season and sixth of her career. Sophomore guard Kristen Boone filled the box score to the tune of 14 points, nine assists, seven steals and four rebounds, while sophomore center Meghan Chamberlain continued her stellar play of late with her first career double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Junior forward KaLeah Latham added 10 points and seven boards.
Greteya Kelley topped all Appalachian State (6-9, 2-4 SoCon) players with 15 points. Eboni Kirby had 14 points, while Kiki Conyers and Jocelyn Wyatt had 13 and 12 points respectively as the Mountaineers dropped their fourth straight game.
UNCG posted its highest shooting percentage in over six years as the Spartans connected on 58.9 percent (33-for-56) of their field goals. UNCG shot 62.0 percent in an 85-51 win at Western Carolina on December 4, 1999.
The Spartans got 48 points from the paint which led to their success rate from the field. They also held a 16-7 advantage in second chance points and a 14-6 lead in fast break points.
UNCG began the second half on a 10-0 run that gave them a 59-33 cushion with 17:01 remaining. Sophomore forward Jasmine Dixon and Boone each scored four points in the first three minutes to set the tone for the remainder of the game. The Spartans would later expand their lead to as many as 29 points on two occasions, the first after a layup by Byrd at the 13:24 mark and after a Boone layup with 6:24 left.
ASU closed the game on a 19-4 that brought its deficit down to the 85-71 final score.
UNCG shot 60.0 (18-for-30) percent from the field, which resulted in a season-high for points in the opening 20 minutes as the Spartans took a comfortable 49-33 lead into halftime.
The Spartans got out to a quick start in the opening minutes of the game as Boone converted two layups and dished out a pair off assists for an 11-4 Spartan lead. After a Mountaineer bucket, UNCG scored nine straight points to open the lead up to 20-6 at the 14:05 mark.
By the 11:09 mark of the first half UNCG owned a 27-13 advantage as the Spartans were knocking down 68.8 percent of their shots to that point. UNCG later took a 46-27 lead after a jumper by Byrd with 2:37 left until intermission.
On the strength of four 3-pointers, Byrd led all scorers with 14 first half points, followed by eight points by Chamberlain and six apiece by Irene Otamiri and Latham. ASU was led by Kelley, Wyatt and Kirby, who all tossed in seven points apiece.
Story Courtesy Elon sports information
Elon 65, College of Charleston 44
ELON, NC - Kitara McMoore racked up 15 points and 11 rebounds - for her seventh double-double of the season and fifth in a row - and Tierra Bumbrey posted a season-high 14 points and six assists as Elon topped the College of Charleston 65-44 in Southern Conference women's basketball action Saturday afternoon at Alumni Gym.
The Phoenix (7-7 overall, 3-3 SoCon) erupted to an early 14-3 advantage on a three-point bucket by Robyn Shipley with 14:41 left in the first period. Elon later expanded its lead to 28-9 on a lay-up by Bumbrey with 3:49 remaining in the half.
Trailing 40-22 early in the second half, the Cougars (5-8, 3-3) went on an 8-2 spurt to draw within 42-30 with 12:52 to play in the contest. The Phoenix responded by reeling off the next 10 consecutive points, building a 52-30 cushion on a Bumbrey basket with 6:57 to go. Elon never led by less than 16 points the rest of the way.
McMoore's double-double marked the 10th of her career. The Phoenix sophomore sensation entered the weekend as the Southern Conference leader in both scoring and rebounding, averaging 15.5 points and 9.3 rebounds per game.
McMoore, who finished 6-for-10 from the field versus the Cougars, entered the weekend ranked second in the league in field goal percentage with a 58.9-percent clip. Teammate Katie Whidden chipped in a career-high 11 points as Elon emerged victorious for the fourth time in five games.
The College of Charleston was led by Erica Irick (13 points, five rebounds, four steals) and Marketta Talley (three assists, three steals).
The contest marked the 800th game of Phoenix coach Brenda Paul's career as a head college coach. Currently in her 28th year, Paul has fashioned a 425-375 career record (.531).
Elon ended up with edges in field goal percentage (45.3-32.7), free throw percentage (70.6-70.0), rebounding (44-26), assists (17-5), steals (15-13), points in the paint (36-16), points off turnovers (27-16), second chance points (16-4) and bench points (23-17). The Cougars committed 24 turnovers while the Phoenix finished with 27.
Story Courtesy Western Carolina sports information
Chattanooga 77, Western Carolina 68 (OT)
CULLOWHEE, NC - Chattanooga sophomore Brooke Hand drained a three-pointer with 4.6 seconds remaining in regulation to cap an 11-point come-back and force overtime. In the extra session, Western Carolina was outscored 12-3 by the Lady Mocs, falling to the league-leader, 77-68, Saturday evening in Southern Conference action.
Hand, who sat on the bench for almost the entire second half, checked into the game with 10.9 seconds to play with UTC down 65-62. Hand's first attempt with eight seconds to go missed, but freshman Alex Anderson grabbed her ninth of a game-high 11 rebounds and put fed the ball back out to Hand who nailed the trey to put the game into overtime after a last second shot at the buzzer for Western fell short.
In overtime, the Lady Mocs struck first on a lay-in from senior Tiffani Roberson and never trailed in the period. Her classmate, Katasha Brown, tallied her sixth trey at 2:36 to build the lead to 70-65. Western would counter and pull back to within two as freshman Kendra Eaton made the first of two free-throws, and then got the put back after missing her second to pull the Lady Catamounts to within two at 2:10.
That was the closest Western Carolina would get as the Lady Mocs shut down the Lady Cats went 0-3 and missed a pair of charity tosses in the final 1:56 of overtime and Chattanooga made 7-of-8 free throws to record the nine-point win, its 11th-straight victory.
Western (2-12, 2-3 SoCon) put three players in double-figures, led by the fourth-consecutive, double-figure outing by sophomore Monique Dawson. The Charlotte, N.C. native finished with a team-high 13 points and a pair of steals. Freshmen Lauren Powell and Teshymia Tillman each chipped in 11 points apiece, with Powell adding five rebounds and Tillman dishing out a pair of assists and swiping two steals.
Sophomore guard Ashley Pellom scored nine in the loss and dished out three assists, while her classmate Chevon Keith and freshman April Parker each grabbed eight rebounds apiece. Keith also dished out three assists, recorded three steals, and blocked a pair of shots.
Western trailed 27-26 at the half and the two teams traded leads through the first 9:12 of the second half before the Lady Catamounts got a handle on the ball and pulled away with a 12-1 run over the next 5:06 to take an 11-point, 58-47 lead. UTC chipped away and outscored the Catamounts 18-7 over the last 5:15, including four 3-pointers, to send it into overtime on Hand's long range bomb.
Four Lady Mocs (12-3, 6-0 SoCon) scored in double digits led by Brown who had a game-high 22 points, including six 3-pointers to tie her career-high. Roberson and Nicole Mattison each tossed in 12 points each and Laura Hall had 11. Anderson scored six points and had a game-best 11 rebounds.