Elon 104, Montreat 59
ELON, N.C. Amber Wall poured in a career-high 22 points and pulled down a career-best 14 rebounds as Elon defeated Montreat 104-59 in a non-conference women?s basketball contest Sunday afternoon at Alumni Gym.
For the Phoenix (2-1), the victory marked the most-lopsided one since a 96-16 win against Peace on Jan. 4, 2001. It also marked Elon?s highest point total since a 111-50 triumph over Averett on Dec. 1, 1999 and 15th outburst of 100 or more points in the 36-year history of the program.
Wall and teammate Shashonna Moore each posted the first double-double performances of their careers. Moore tallied new career highs with 18 points, six assists and four steals while tying a career best by grabbing 10 rebounds. When she fouled out with 4:58 remaining, she fell just four assists shy of recording a triple-double.
The Phoenix garnered six players in double figures in the scoring column, including Tierra Bumbrey (19 points, seven assists), Rachel Hester (career-high 17 points), Katie Whidden (career-high-tying 11 points, six caroms, career-high three assists) and Tiffany Davis (11 points, career-high four steals). Elon?s Nikko King registered six points and eight rebounds.
Elon exploded to a commanding 37-14 lead on a jumper by Moore with 6:17 to play in the first period en route to a 52-27 halftime advantage. Leading
80-53 with 8:16 left in the contest, the Phoenix went on to close the contest with a 24-6 run.
The Cavaliers (0-8) were paced by Jonkia Stewart-Butler (16 points, nine rebounds, six steals), Tamira Wills (16 points) and Chiquita Mack (10 points).
Never trailing, Elon fashioned advantages in points in the paint (58-24), points off turnovers (31-11), second chance points (20-8), fast break points
(24-2) and bench points (39-28). The Phoenix won the battle of the boards by a 54-35 margin and committed just 15 turnovers to Montreat?s 28.
Elon sank 41 of its 81 attempts from the field for 50.6 percent. The Phoenix also shot 37.5 percent (6 of 16) from behind the arc and 69.6 percent (16 of
23) from the free throw line.
The Cavaliers connected on 24 of their 63 field goal attempts for 38.1 percent. Montreat also fired 23.5 percent (8 of 34) from three-point land and 42.9 percent (3 of 7) from the charity stripe.
The Cavaliers return to action with a visit to Emmanuel on Tuesday. The Phoenix will next face host UNLV at 7:30 p.m. Friday in the Lady Rebel Shootout.
#9 Georgia 74, Davidson 68
ATHENS, Ga. The Davidson women's basketball team placed four players in double figures and battled the ninth ranked team in the country down to the closing minutes of the game, but Georgia starved off the upset bid by scoring 17 of the final 27 points for a 74-68 victory on Sunday afternoon at Stegeman Coliseum. Davidson suffered its first loss of the season to fall to 2-1, while Georgia remained unbeaten at 3-0.
Davidson was up for the battle with the ninth ranked team in the nation from the start. The Wildcats raced out to a 9-5 lead, four coming from junior Danielle Hemerka (Blackwood, N.J.), in the first three and half minutes of play. Davidson would maintain the lead over the next 12 minutes of the half thanks to a 6-for-6 showing at the free throw line, while finishing the first stanza a perfect 12-for-12.
Georgia then took its first lead of the half when Cori Chambers found the bottom of the net from behind the arc at the 8:27 mark to give the Bulldogs a brief 19-18 advantage. Chambers would prove clutch for the Bulldogs all day, topping all scorers with 25 points on 9-of-18 shooting, including a
5-of-9 showing from behind the arc.
Shortly after UGA pushed its lead out to three, Davidson charged right back to regain the lead at 27-25 thanks to senior Tia Washington (Charlotte,
N.C.) and freshman Julia Paquette (Stockbridge, Ga.). Washington hit Davidson's third three of the half from the top of the key and on the 'Cats next possession, Paquette calmly sank two free throws with 3:16 remaining in the half.
Chambers then sparked a 9-4 run over the next few minutes with two more three-pointers and Georgia had a 36-29 lead with 36 ticks on the clock. But Davidson would not back down, closing to within three, 36-33, before the final buzzer of the first half with a Paquette layup and two more free throws from freshman Alexandra Thompson (Asheville, N.C.).
Davidson came out with the same aggressiveness in the second half, opening the half on a 13-3 run capped off by a three-ball from senior Jessica Mitchell (Wilkesboro, N.C.) to retake the lead at 46-40. For seven minutes, the Wildcats held the lead, but Georgia slowly chipped away.
Trailing 56-50, the Bulldogs used a 7-0 run finished off by yet another three-pointer from Chambers to take the one-point lead with 8:39 remaining in the game.
Sophomore Mercedes Robinson (Mansfield, Texas) gave Davidson its final lead of the contest on the next possession with two free throws.
Christy Marshall gave Georgia the lead for good, 61-58, at the 6:49 mark with back-to-back 10-foot jumpers on the Bulldogs next two touches and they would maintain at least a three-point lead the rest of the way to escape with a 74-68 win.
Pacing Davidson offensively was Hemerka and Paquette with 12 points apiece.
Paquette was a force down in the paint against the taller Bulldog players, hitting a season-best 5-of-7 from the field and 2-for-2 from the charity stripe. She also hauled in four rebounds as the Wildcats were only out-rebounded by four, 38-34, despite Georgia having five players 6-1 or taller.
Redshirt junior Katie Hamilton (Lilburn, Ga.) and Washington were the other two 'Cats to get into double digits with 11 and 10 points, respectively.
Besides Chambers' 25 points, Marshall and Megan Darrah each scored in double figures with 16 and 10 points each. Darrah finished with a double-double, pulling down 11 rebounds.
Davidson will next travel to Rock Hill, S.C. to take on the Winthrop Eagles on Wed., Nov. 22 at 4 p.m. After its trip to Winthrop, Davidson will play at the Klosterman Buckeye Classic on Nov. 25-26.
Louisville 89, Furman 44
Louisville, Kent. -- Six Louisville players reached double-figures in scoring as the Cardinals defeated Furman 89-44 on Sunday afternoon at Freedom Hall.
Jazz Covington led the way for Louisville with 13 points and nine rebounds. Chauntise Wright recorded a double-double with ten points and ten rebounds in just 12 minutes of action. Yuliya Tokova and Angel McCoughtry each netted 12 points, while Courtney Simmons and Toni Slaughter added 11 and 10, respectively.
Furman was led by Lee Stephens with 11 points, including 3-of-5 on three-pointers. She also added six rebounds to lead Furman on the boards.
Sarah Baker recorded nine points for the Lady Paladins. Kali Holtfreter tallied three assists for the game.
Louisville jumped out to an early 11-2 lead on the strength of Helen Johnson’s layup and three-pointer just over five minutes into the game.
Stephens answered with a trey of her own before Furman went into a six minute scoreless drought. The Cardinals reeled off ten straight points to take a 21-5 lead with nine minutes remaining in the first half.
The Cardinals extended their lead to as much as 24 points in the first half before Stephens drilled back-to-back three pointers to cut the lead to 20 at intermission.
Furman began the second half by working the ball inside, creating scoring chances and earning trips to the free-throw line, hitting four straight from the charity stripe to open the second half. Louisville held a 61-32 lead with just under 11 minutes to play before exploding on a 19-3 run over the next six minutes.
The lead increased to as much as 49 points at 89-40 with two minutes left, until Stephens’ two free throws and Mollie Petersen’s jumpshot provided the final scoring.
With the win, Louisville improves to 4-0 on the season, while Furman falls to 1-1 overall. The Lady Paladins return to action on Tuesday as Furman plays host to Jacksonville State at 7:00 p.m. at Timmons Arena.
South Florida 94, Georgia Southern 65
TAMPA, Fla. ? South Florida’s sharp second-half shooting generated a 94-65 Bulls victory over the Georgia Southern women’s basketball team, Sunday afternoon (Nov. 19) at Tampa, Florida’s Sun Dome.
The Lady Eagles fall to 1-3 with the defeat, losing both contests at USF’s Image Depot Shootout. The Bulls (4-0) came out of the weekend’s tournament unscathed, sporting a 2-0 record in the weekend’s non-conference match-ups versus Texas Southern and GSU.
Sophomore Ashley Melson (Newnan, Ga.) led the Lady Eagles with a season- and career-high tying 16 points, in addition to a season-high tying eight rebounds. The guard was named to the Image Depot Shootout ?All-Tournament Team’ after averaging 13 points, eight rebounds and 10-of-12 (.833) free throw shooting versus Troy and USF.
Both teams struggled from the field in the first stanza as the Lady Eagles led the Bulls in shooting, making 29.6 (8-of-27) percent of their shots, compared to USF’s 24.4 (11-of-45) percent.
The Bulls first got up on the scoreboard off a fast break layup by Nalini Miller just 42 seconds into the contest. Following a short rebound, freshman forward Jessica Geiger (Stone Mountain, Ga.) hit the first bucket for the Lady Eagles 17 seconds later, scoring inside the paint. It was Geiger’s first collegiate start of her career.
The Lady Eagles tied up the match on three occasions within the first five minutes, but couldn’t create the edge over the Bulls.
Despite the advantage in shooting percentage, the Lady Eagles trailed by eight points going into halftime. Melson’s 11 points and seven rebounds kept Georgia Southern close going into the break.
In the second half, the Bulls increased their lead to 10 points off the hands of Rachael Sheats just under two minutes into the new stanza. It was just two of her total 12 points on the afternoon. The guard also pulled down 11 rebounds good for a double-double performance.
The Lady Eagles turned things back in their favor after feeding off the fire of Tiffany Brown’s (Waxhaw, N.C.) pair of consecutive three pointers, closing the Bulls’ lead to a four-point, 39-35 margin with 17:37 remaining on the clock. After a pair of free throws by Shantia Grace, Brown buried another trey, bringing the Lady Eagles within just three points with 16:03 remaining.
But the momentum changed in favor of the Bulls as they improved their first-half shooting accuracy twofold, netting 20-of-41 (.488) field goals.
In a period of 3:35, the Bulls went on a 12-point scoring run, increasing their lead to 58-42 with 11:54 on the clock. South Florida didn’t look back, posting 57 second-half points compared to the Lady Eagles’ 36, sealing their second victory on the weekend and winning the four-team tournament.
USF’s Shantia Grace led all scorers with 24 points, dishing out four assists.
GSU’s Brown added 11 points, shooting 3-of-5 from downtown. Ashley Rivens (Charlotte, N.C.) contributed 10 points on the afternoon, going 2-of-4 from behind the arc. Christa Waterman (Sugar Hill, Ga.) pulled down a team-high nine rebounds with six points and one block.
Next up, head coach Rusty Cram and the Lady Eagles return to Hanner Fieldhouse and prepare for an in-state battle against No. 8 Georgia. The home contest in slated for Tuesday, Nov. 21 at 7 p.m.