Furman 72, Jacksonville State 67
Greenville, S.C. -- Jessica Lange and Courtney Opie both recorded career-highs in scoring and Furman overcame an 18 point second half deficit to defeat Jacksonville State 72-67 on Tuesday night at Timmons Arena.
Lange scored 25 points on 11-of-16 shooting from the floor and 3-for-4 from the free throw line. She also added a game-high three blocked shots.
Opie netted 12 points on five field goals and a pair of free throws.
Ashley Boykin led all scorers with 26 points, including five three-pointers for Jacksonville State.
Jacksonville State, who led 37-27 at halftime, opened up the second half with five quick points on a Boykin trey and a steal and layup by Cobie Carlisle to push the lead to 42-27. Boykin’s three-pointer with 17:47 remaining extended the lead to 18 points at 47-29.
Lange scored seven straight points for Furman and Lee Stephen’s layup and Kali Holtfreter’s jumpshot cut the lead to 51-41 with just over 13 minutes remaining. A four minute scoreless drought for the Gamecocks and Holtfreter’s three-pointer cut into the lead. Opie made two short jumpers and Chrissy Phelps knocked down a pair of free throws to pull within 51-50 at the 10:58 mark.
Sarah Baker’s three pointer tied the score at 53 apiece, and Lange gave Furman the lead with a jumpshot with nine minutes remaining the game. The Lady Paladins reached its largest lead of the night at 67-59 on two Opie free throws, and Furman made seven out of ten free throws over the last two and a half minutes to seal the win.
Baker scored nine points and collected a game-high ten rebounds for the Lady Paladins. Stephens, Baker, and Holtfreter each added four assists, while Stephens recorded four steals.
Furman, who entered the game ranked last in the Southern Conference in free throw percentage at .486, made 20 of its 28 attempts for a 71.4% mark.
With the win, Furman improves its record to 2-1 on the season.
Jacksonville State falls to 3-2 overall. The Lady Paladins return to action this weekend as Furman meets Duquesne on Friday at 4:00 p.m. in the first round of the Hilton Wilmington Riverside Classic in Wilmington, N.C.
#8 Georgia 75, Georgia Southern 71
STATESBORO, Ga. ? In a closely fought battle that saw 13 lead changes and six ties, the Georgia Southern women’s basketball team (1-4) battled No. 8 Georgia (4-0) in a tight 75-71 loss, Tuesday night, at Hanner Fieldhouse in front of 2,183 fans.
“I love this team. They’ve got fight. They’ve got grit. They get down and they work hard,” said head coach Rusty Cram of the Lady Eagles performance. “Just one of these days we’re going to get that break.”
The break almost came as GSU claimed the lead for most of the first half and had the advantage at the break. The Lady Eagles led by as much as eight points in the first stanza, thanks to a sharp-shooting offense and tenacious defense.
Tiffany Brown had a game-high tying 18 points, shooting 4-of-10 from downtown and 7-of-18 from the field. She also pulled down four rebounds and dished out a team-high tying five assists.
Georgia’s Angel Robinson hit 8-of-14 shots from the field, good for 18 points to lead the Lady Bulldogs.
GSU started the game with a three point field goal off the hands of starting freshman guard Carolyn Whitney. Two possessions later, the Lady Eagles hit another trey off the hands of Ashley Rivens. Brown fired back with 17:10 on the clock, giving the Lady Eagles yet another three, putting the home team up 11-6.
The Lady Eagles produced of a hot hand in the first half, shooting 45.5 percent (15-of-33) from the field and 47.1 percent (8-of-17) from behind the arc.
But Georgia claimed the advantage in the shooting margin, making 14-of-25 (.560) shots from the field.
“In the first half, I thought we kept them out of the continuity of their offense,” said Cram.
Twin sisters Carolyn and Elise Whitney packed a one-two punch against the Georgia offense, helping force 17 Lady Bulldogs’ turnovers. Rivens grabbed two steals to add to the Lady Eagles’ defensive attack.
Carolyn Whitney netted 10 points on the evening, dishing out five assists and had one stolen ball, while Elise added another stolen ball.
“They compliment each other,” said head coach Rusty Cram. “One’s strength is another one’s weakness. You throw them out there and put them together. You saw that run and jump, and I thought that was a major key there. Late in the second half when they had a little run, we took the momentum off of that run and jump. They’ve played together for so long. Those young ladies are used to winning.”
After enjoying a lead that lasted 13:13 in the first half, Georgia narrowed the margin when Janese Hardrick hit a trey at the top of the key to bring the Lady Bulldogs to within one point at 5:20 left in the half. The next time down the court, Georgia’s Rebecca Rowsey put the Lady Bulldogs up for the first time in the game, 29-28, since 2:12 into the game.
But the lady eagles reclaimed the lead, 31-30 with 3:50 remaining in the first stanza off freshman Jessica Geiger’s successful shot from downtown.
After the break, Georgia entered the second half behind by only three points and took advantage of a GSU shooting lull.
Rebecca Rowsey hit a pair of free throws to tie up the match at 40 with 17:12 on the clock.
Georgia reclaimed the lead less than four minutes into the second half when Ashley Houts buried a trey, giving the Lady Bulldogs the 45-43 advantage.
With 13:36 on the clock, Ashley Melson moved off a screen by Concella Henry and pulled up for the trey, putting the Lady Eagles just one point behind, 47-46. Melson finished the game scoring 11 points, shooting 4-of-8 from the field, 3-of-4 from three point land.
Brown’s three with 9:34 on the clock tied up the match at 53. On the next possession, Christa Waterman rebounded a missed shot, passed it back out to Brown and the junior from Waxhaw, N.C. hit her fourth three pointer on the night, putting the Lady Eagles back into the8:53 remaining.
Over the next seven minutes, the lead changed five times with three ties. The Lady Eagles’ last lead of the contest occurred when Waterman calmly sank both of her free throws, good for a 69-68 advantage with 2:41 on the clock.
Off a GSU missed shot, the Lady Bulldogs pulled down the rebound and pushed the ball quick up the court. Megan Darrah drew the blocking foul in the act of shooting and banked it in. After hitting the resulting free throw, the Lady Bulldogs came out with a two-point lead (71-69) with 1:57 remaining.
The Lady Eagles missed their next possession and Georgia’s Robinson extended the lead to 73-69 with 1:29 remaining on a bucket in the paint.
After a brief timeout, Rivens jumper in the paint closed the margin to only two points. But with the clock winding down, the Lady Eagles shots didn’t fall, and Georgia’s final points were scored on the foul line.
The Lady Bulldogs finished the game shooting a precise 52.9 percent from the field over GSU’s 40.6 percent. Georgia Southern and in-state foe Georgia pulled down 35 rebounds each, while turning over 17 balls each.
Head coach Rusty Cram and the Lady Eagles next prepare for the AmeriSuites Midtown Thanksgiving Tournament hosted by New Mexico. The first game versus New Mexico is slated for Friday, Nov. 24 at 8 p.m. (MT). The next day, the Lady Eagles will play either Western Illinois or Siena College.
East Tennessee State 104, Appalachian State 87
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. ? Appalachian State and East Tennessee State’s women’s basketball teams combined for 191 points, as the Mountaineers fell to the Lady Bucs, 104-87, Tuesday at Memorial Center.
With the loss the Mountaineers drop to 2-2 overall, while the Lady Bucs pick up their first win of the season to move to 1-3. A total of 10 players scored double-digits in the game, five from each team.
Rebounds proved to be the key of the game, as ASU grabbed 21 offensive rebounds and scored 28 second-chance points. ETSU came up with 23 boards on the offensive end and 29 second-chance points.
Junior < b>Maria Grimes (Birmingham, Ala.) led the offensive charge with 22 points. Her classmate Whitney Tossie (Oviedo, Fla.) added 18 points, while senior Jaime Bennett (Woodstock, Ga.) and freshman GiGi Thomas (Tallahassee, Fla.) chipped in 14 apiece and senior Carleena Costner added 11 points. Bennett and Grimes led ASU on the boards with eight rebounds each.
ETSU’s Siarre Evans led all scorers with 29 points. Brooke Wilhoit added 21 points, Devin Thompson chipped in 20, Michele DeVault put up 17 and Nichelle Akers rounded out the double-digit scorers with 10 points. Evans and DeVault both had double-doubles with 12 rebounds each.
The Lady Bucs scored first and quickly jumped out to a 7-2 lead with 17:46 remaining in the first half. Down 9-4, the Mountaineers used a 6-0 run to take its first lead of the game at 10-9 with just over 14 minutes left in the opening period. A 15-5 run gave ETSU the lead back with just over 11 minutes in the period, before ASU used its own run to pull within one point at 27-26 with eight and a half left to play in the half.
ETSU outscored ASU, 29-13 in the final eight minutes as the home team went into the locker room at halftime with a 56-39 lead.
The Mountaineers shot out of halftime with a 7-0 run to cut the ETSU lead to 10 at 56-46 with 18:07 to go. The Lady Bucs countered every Mountaineer run as ASU came its closest in the second half at five points, 60-55, with 14:31 to go in the game.
The Lady Bucs reached their largest lead of the game of 20 points at the 10:02 mark and held on for a 104-87 win.
ETSU’s 104 points are the most scored against ASU since last season’s National Champion, Maryland, put up 118 on December 1, 2005.
The Mountaineers return home as they host Georgetown, Saturday, November 25 at the Holmes Center. Due to a playoff football game, tipoff has been moved to 8 p.m.