Story Courtesy Wofford sports information
Appalachian State 80, Wofford 65
SPARTANBURG, SC - In a game featuring a combined 68 turnovers, visiting Appalachian State knocked off host Wofford, 80-65, Tuesday night in the Benjamin Johnson Arena. The Mountaineers used 21 steals to help force the Terriers into 36 turnovers.
Neither team could maintain ball possession due to the defenses. Wofford, who entered the game ranked No. 1 nationally with a 14.9 steals per game average, exceeded that tally with 16 steals tonight.
Appalachian State (7-9, 3-4 SoCon) used a variety of runs to keep distance on the Terriers following a close start to the contest. After senior Nakia Mister put Wofford ahead 17-15 on a layup with 9:19 to play in the first half, ASU scored five straight points on a 3-pointer by Greteya Kelley and a bucket from Whitney Tossie to regain the lead, 20-17, with 8:47 remaining.
Sophomore Kelsi Koenig deadlocked the score again, at 20-20, with 8:06 left before seven straight Mountaineer points covering nearly two minutes gave the visitors the lead for good with a 27-20 advantage on a Whitney Ketner free throw. Appalachian State continued to increase its margin and saw it swell to 12, 36-24, on a trey from Kiki Conyers with 2:19 showing on the clock.
The Terriers would score the final six points of the half to pull within six, 36-30, at the intermission. Wofford (5-11, 1-6 SoCon) then came out in the second half in a flurry, knocking down the first five points to score 11 straight over the two halves, to make the ASU edge, 36-35, with 18:52 remaining in the contest.
The visitors would then rattle off eight straight points of their own to take a 44-35 lead at the 15:58 mark. The Terriers would continue to battle and cut the deficit to two, 46-44, on a Laura Depko layup. However, Appalachian kept its lead with a 9-0 spurt, including seven points from Eboni Kirby, to jump back out 55-44 with 10:50 left.
A Koenig 3-pointer with 5:34 remaining would chop the lead back down to eight, 62-54, but Wofford would get no closer. ASU saw its largest lead at 18, 78-60, with :56 seconds to play on an old-fashioned three-point play by Tossie.
Danielle Edwards led all players with 14 points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots. She was one of five Mountaineers to reach the double-digit scoring plateau, which also included Kirby (13), Jocelyn Wyatt (12), Kelley (12) and Tossie (11).
Pacing the Terrier attack was Koenig with 16, while Mary Jo Yee chipped in with 14 and Depko posted 10. Mister finished with a team-high six rebounds, while freshman Liz Miller led Wofford with five assists and three steals. Junior Susanna Paul registered two blocked shots defensively.
Story Courtesy Davidson sports information
Davidson 54, Elon 41
DAVIDSON, NC - Junior Brynn Kelly (Spokane, Wash.) had her first career double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds and the Davidson women's basketball held the Elon Phoenix to five points over the final 12 and half minutes in route to a 54-41 Southern Conference win at home on Tuesday, Jan. 17. The Wildcats picked up their second straight win and eighth in the last 10 games as Davidson moved to 9-7 overall and 5-2 in league play. Elon dropped to 7-8 overall and 3-4 in the SoCon.
Neither team was able to find its stroke all night as Davidson finished shooting only 31.3 percent from the field, while Elon was slightly better at 34.7 percent, but only shot 29.2 percent in the second half. The Wildcats forced Elon to cough the ball up 22 times, Davidson's eighth time this year it has been able to force its opponents to turn the ball over 20 or more times.
The Wildcats, ranked 24th in the nation in steals per game at 11.6, also came up with their 11th game of 10 or more steals as they pocketed 12 on the evening.
Elon, who led by as many as seven points in the first half, took a four-point lead, 36-32, at the 12:40 mark in the second half when point guard Tierra Bumbrey hit a jumper just outside the paint. The Phoenix had gained the four-point advantage by opening the second half on a 13-4 run. Those would be the last points scored though by Elon till the 6:01 mark in the game and it got only five more points after that time.
Meanwhile, Davidson used an 11-0 run highlighted by freshman Kelly Gassie's (Mt. Juliet, Tenn.) four points to take the lead for good at 43-36 with 6:27 remaining in the game. Gassie finished the contest with six points, five rebounds, and two steals.
The Wildcats pushed its lead out to a game-high 13 on another lethal run, this time an 11-5 run over the last five minutes to close the game out and secure the 54-41 win. Senior Janell Crayton (Atlanta, Ga.), who had a game-high 15 points, netted four of those points in the run.
Sophomore Danielle Hemerka (Blackwood, N.J.) had another nice game on the boards, hauling in a team-high 11 rebounds as Davidson won in the rebounding department 42-37. Of the Wildcats 42 rebounds, 17 of them came on the offensive end.
Davidson also continued its smooth-shooting touch at the free throw line, dropping in 12-for-16 in the game as it marked the fourth straight game that the Wildcats have hit 75.0 percent or better at the charity strip.
Elon's Kitara McMoore had yet another double-double on the evening. McMoore, fresh off the SoCon Player of the Week honors, earned her sixth consecutive and eight overall double-double with 10 points and 15 rebounds. Nicole Allison also chipped in with a team-high 13 points on 6-of-10 shooting.