Story Courtesy Appalachian State sports information

Western Carolina 86, Appalachian State 76

BOONE, NC - Western Carolina shot nearly 50 percent from the floor, including a 55.6 clip in the second half, to hand Appalachian State an 86-76 defeat in the first game of a women’s-men’s basketball doubleheader Monday at the Holmes Center.

Western’s Monique Dawson poured in a career-high 23 points to lead the Catamounts (2-11, 2-2 Southern Conference) to their second-best scoring output of the season. Three other Catamounts scored in double-figures as Lauren Powell, Ashley Pellom and Chevon Keith added 14, 15 and 10 points, respectively.

Appalachian (6-8, 2-3 SoCon) was paced by three scorers in double figures. Sophomore Whitney Tossie (Oviedo, Fla.) tallied 18 points, while seniors Jocelyn Wyatt (Lawrenceville, Ga.) and Kiki Conyers (Tallahassee, Fla.) added 15 points apiece.

Junior Danielle Edwards (Winston-Salem, N.C.) led the Apps on the boards with a game-high 14 boards, coming one point short of her third double-double of the season with nine points.

The Mountaineers blocked a season-high seven shots, led by Edwards with four, a career-high. After going the entire first half without a free throw shot, Appalachian shot 13-for-15 in the second half to finish the game at 86.7 percent.

Western Carolina quickly extended its eight-point halftime lead to 10 at 40-30 off a jumper by Monique Dawson just 80 seconds into the second period of play. Tossie quickly added a three to cut the lead to seven at 40-33 with 18:54 to go in the game.

With the score at 46-37 in favor of the visitors, WCU outscored ASU, 17-8 in the next six minutes to lead by 17 at 63-45 with 9:46 to play in the game. The Mountaineers pulled within nine at 85-76 with 1:34 to play, but that was as close as they would get as the Catamounts pulled off an 86-76 win Monday at the Holmes Center.

After a 4-0 start by Western, Appalachian reached its first lead of the game at 19-17 with 9:26 to play in the half. Western quickly added five unanswered points to lead 22-19 with 8:35 left in the first period.

The Mountaineers led one more time at 27-26 with 5:54 in the half before Western scored four-straight to lead 30-27 with 3:39 to go in the half. After a three-pointer by ASU’s Eboni Kirby (Tallahassee, Fla.), WCU ended the half with an 8-0 run to take a 38-30 lead into halftime.

Story Courtesy Georgia Southern sports information

Georgia Southern 74, UNC Greensboro 63

STATESBORO, GA - Georgia Southern senior Nicole Newton poured in a team-high 24 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead the Lady Eagles to a 74-63 Southern Conference win over UNC Greensboro Monday night at Hanner Fieldhouse.

Newton’s (Dublin, Ga.) 24 points were a career high and the most by a GSU player all season.  Fellow senior Lee DuBose (Jefferson, Ga.) added 12 and sophomore Shawnda Atwood (Pensacola, Fla.) pulled down a career-best 13 rebounds.

UNCG (5-8, 1-3 SoCon) sophomore Kristen Boone also set a new personal-best with 25 points and tied her career high with eight steals.

Georgia Southern (6-8, 3-2 SoCon), playing without sophomore starters Fallon Lee and Tiffany Brown, who are academically ineligible for the rest of the season, started quickly out of the gate, racing to a 25-8 lead.  The normally slow-starting Lady Eagles, who have not led in the first five minutes of a game since Dec. 10 at Centenary, shot 10-for-14 from the floor during that stretch and went almost five minutes without missing a shot.

The Lady Eagles answered a lay-up by Boone with an inside basket from sophomore Chequilla Jessie (Sanford, Fla.) to go up 29-15.  The Spartans proceeded to go on an 8-0 run capitalizing on four GSU turnovers.  Six of those points came from Boone, including two lay-ups following a steal.

After two free throws from GSU sophomore Christa Waterman (Sugar Hill, Ga.), Jasmine Byrd’s three-pointer cut the lead to five 31-26 with 5:21 to play in the half. 

With the score 34-28, Georgia Southern ended the half on a 6-1 run, highlighted by four points from sophomore Concella Henry (Manning, S.C.), who ended the scoring with two free throws in the final 15 seconds, and GSU led 40-29 at the break.

The Lady Eagles dominated the glass in the first 20 minutes, outrebounding UNCG 24-12 overall, and 9-5 on the GSU end of the floor.  Newton led all scorers with 14 points, hitting seven of her nine shots.  Boone countered with 13 points and five steals.

Newton opened the scoring in the second half for a 13-point advantage and after two free throws from Boone, kicked the lead back up to 13 on the next trip down the floor.  Boone started a run of five unanswered points to get the deficit under 10 points, and after Newton hit yet another lay-up, Spartan freshman Gini Grimsley put back her own rebound and UNC Greensboro trailed 46-38.

Newton answered once again and DuBose hit a trey to get the lead back up to 13 and the Lady Eagles cruised the rest of the way.

GSU won the rebounding battle 51-31 for the game and held the Spartans to 5.9 percent (1-17) from 3-point land.

Story Courtesy Chattanooga sports information

Chattanooga 87, Davidson 65

CHATTANOOGA, TN -  Brooke Hand led three Lady Mocs in double figures as Chattanooga rolled to its 10th consecutive win defeating Davidson 87-65 at the McKenzie Arena Monday evening. UTC snapped the Wildcat’s five-game win streak dropping Davidson to 7-7 overall and 3-2 in league play.

The Lady Mocs (11-3, 5-0 SoCon) scored first, but couldn’t get a handle on the game until midway through the first half. Chattanooga, down 10-8 at 14:03 capped off a 9-0 run on Hand’s first 3-pointer to take a 17-10 lead four minutes later. Tiffani Roberson and Katasha Brown combined for Chattanooga’s first 10 points and Alex Anderson gave UTC the lead for good at 12-10 on a layup 13:17 into the game. The Lady Mocs connected on five more treys to close out the first half in control 45-28.

In the second half, Davidson pulled to within 12 on a 3-pointer by Jessica Mitchell at 12:45 to make it a 57-45 game, but the Lady Mocs pulled away with a 10-2 run. Nicole Mattison’s 3-pointer at the 8:59 mark gave UTC a 67-47 lead. Freshman Nancy Moore’s jumper with 1:39 to play gave the Lady Mocs a 23 point lead, their largest, at 81-58.

Chattanooga shot better than 50 percent over both halves making 31-of-56 for the game and connecting on 12 from beyond the arc. The Lady Mocs outscored the short-handed Wildcats 48-9 off the bench and had a 26-18 advantage in the paint over the Cats. UTC outrebounded Davidson 36-33 and scored 13 points on 14 Wildcat turnovers.

Anderson tallied four blocked shots for the second time this season and had four assists and three steals. Nicole Mattison connected on a pair of 3-pointers for six points and dished out a game-high seven assists and moved into a tie for eighth place all-time with 274 career assists. Moore and Erin Ogan each scored seven points in 10 minutes while Ashley Huff added four. Kristen Spann hit all four of her free throws for a four-point effort as 10 Lady Mocs scored in the contest.

Three Davidson players notched double-digits led by Jessica Mitchell with 19 points on 7-of-17 and five 3-pointers. Tia Washington and Danielle Hemerka each contributed 12 points for the Wildcats and Hemerka had a game-high eight rebounds.

Davidson will host Georgia Southern Saturday, Jan. 14 at 2 p.m. in the first of a two-game home stint.