Wake Forest 74, Wofford 72
SPARTANBURG, S.C. -- The Wofford women's basketball team rallied from an 18-point halftime deficit with proficient foul shooting to take a four-point lead before host Wake Forest responded and squeaked out a 74-72 victory Wednesday night in the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Winston-Salem, N.C.
After entering the break down 45-27, the Terriers came out in the second half with greater defensive intensity and ball pressure. Sophomore Liz Miller started the Wofford (4-2) comeback with a layup at 18:38 and added another layup and 3-pointer to trim the Demon Deacon margin to single digits, 45-36, with 16:18 left.
The nine straight points by the Terriers happened while their defense kept Wake Forest off the scoreboard. The Deacs would not score in the second half until Yolanda Lavender netted a jumper at the 16:08 mark. She added a triple of her own to push the lead back to 14, 50-36. Foul shots became Wofford's ally in the second stanza and throughout the game. The Terriers missed only three of 29 attempts for an 89.7 percentage with just one miss in the second half.
Different players hit free throws at various times during the comeback, including senior Susanna Paul at 12:50, sophomore Laura Depko at 10:00, sophomore Summer Nichols at 9:06 and 8:15, junior Kelsi Koenig at 9:02, 7:51 and 7:20. Koenig's second pair of charity tosses tied the score at 58-58 following the under eight-minute media timeout.
Koenig's final set gave Wofford its first lead, 60-58, with 7:20 to go. Sophomore Kate Dempsey added a bucket to increase the Terrier margin to four, 62-58, before Lavender took control once again hitting a trey to cut the gap to one. Alex Tchangoue sliced through the paint on a layup to give Wake Forest (3-2) a 63-62 advantage and the Demon Deacons never looked back.
Wake Forest again received a 3-pointer from Lavender to take a five-point edge, 72-67, with 2:44 left. Senior K.C. Correll hit a jumper and Miller added a 3-pointer to tie the game once more, 72-72, with 51 seconds showing on the clock. The score would remain that way until Christen Brown sent Wake home with the victory with a pair of free throws with just 11 seconds remaining.
Miller tallied a career high 16 points, while Nichols added 14, Koenig 12 and Correll 10. Koenig has now converted 25 of her last 26 free throws.
Lavender led all scorers with 23 points, including five from behind the 3-point arc. Tchangoue contributed 14 and Corinne Groves registered 12 and a game-high nine rebounds.
Wofford will take 10 days off for the Thanksgiving holiday before resuming action Dec. 1 at home against Winthrop.
Davidson 66, Winthrop 48
ROCK HILL, S.C. -- Ten different Cats etched their names into the scorer's book and Davidson dished out a season-high 21 assists in picking up its second road win of the season, a 66-48 victory over the Winthrop Eagles on Wednesday, Nov. 22, in women's basketball action. Davidson moved its record to 3-1 with the non-conference win, while Winthrop saw its record drop to 2-4.
The 21 assists were the most for Davidson since last season when they dished out 20 in the regular-season finale against Furman. Davidson hit the 20-assist mark five times last year. Seniors Tia Washington (Charlotte, N.C.) and Jessica Mitchell (Wilkesboro, N.C.) paced the team with a game-high five apiece. Nine Wildcats in all dished out at least one assist in the game.
Davidson stormed out of the gates, racing to a 16-5 lead after a 15-foot jumper at the top of the key by redshirt junior Katie Hamilton (Lilburn, Ga.) with 13:48 to go in the first half. Hamilton and fellow junior Danielle Hemerka (Blackwood, N.J.) had the hot-hand early, combining for 10 of the 16 Wildcat points.
Leading by eleven, the Wildcats all of the sudden went cold over almost 10 minutes of action as the Winthrop zone combined with ice-cold shooting by Davidson allowed the Eagles to close to within two, 19-17, at the 4:07 mark. Shelly Hankins and Ashley Haugtvedt worked the outside-inside game for the Eagles as Hankins hit for five points on a jumper and three-pointer, while Haugtvedt dropped in five down low in the paint.
Neither team looked sharp all first half, combining for 30 turnovers, but neither took advantage as there were only 19 total points scored off those turnovers with 10 coming from the Wildcats.
Davidson regrouped after Winthrop came back, closing out the half on a 9-5 run to head into halftime up 28-22.
Four different Wildcats assisted Davidson in opening a ten-point lead, 37-27, with 16:05 at the start of the second half.
After two Franchesca Davenport free throws cut the Wildcat lead down to five at 37-32, Davidson would take control of the game over the next eight minutes of play behind the strong efforts from junior Honna Housley (Riceville, Tenn.). The Wildcats pushed their lead out to as much as 23 points thanks to a 22-4 run, showing their unselfishness with 13 second-half assists and cruised to the 66-48 win.
Housley scored all 10 of her points, including the the final three for Davidson, during the late second half charge and hauled in six of her seven total rebounds in the second period.
Housley and two other players led the Wildcats with 10 points, while the junior set a new career-high with seven boards and matching a career-high in assists with four. Hemerka and Mitchell were the other two Davidson players to reach double digits.
Senior Brynn Kelly (Spokane, Wash.) matched her career-high in rebounds, hauling in a game-high 13 as Davidson for the third time in the past four games won the rebounding margin, 43-27. Nineteen of those rebounds came on the offensive end.
Davenport was the leading scorer for Winthrop with 13 points, including a 5-for-5 showing at the free throw line. The Eagles finished 13-for-19 from the free throw line, but shot only 36.4 percent from the field with 24 turnovers.
Davidson will turn around now and travel up to Columbus, Ohio to the campus of The Ohio State University for the 2006 Klosterman Buckeye Classic on Nov. 25-26. The Wildcats will open the classic against the 2-0 Montana Grizzlies on Nov. 25 at 11 a.m. They then will either face No. 6 Ohio State (3-0) or Cornell (0-3) on Nov. 26.