Western Carolina 76, Wofford 67
SPARTANBURG, S.C. -- A 20-4 run covering six-and-a-half minutes in the second half propelled Western Carolina to a 76-67 win over host Wofford in Southern Conference women's basketball action inside the Benjamin Johnson Arena Sunday afternoon in Spartanburg, S.C. The contest was the league opener for both schools.
Senior Mary Jo Yee hit a 3-pointer with 13:05 left to give the Terriers their final lead of the contest, 46-45, before the Lady Catamounts embarked on the spurt. The triple was the third for Wofford out of its previous four field goals. Western's Ashley Pellom countered with a bucket at 12:54 and the visitors never looked back in pulling away and limiting the Terriers to four points from the foul line during the stretch.
Kelsi Koenig hit a pair of charity tosses to trim the margin to three, 52-49, before Chevon Keith began and ended an 8-0 run on field goals to give Western Carolina (6-5, 1-0 SoCon) a 60-49 advantage with 6:58 to play. The Lady Catamounts increased their lead to as much as 15, 60-15, when Brooke Johnson, playing in her first game as a Lady Catamount after transferring from Carson-Newman, converted on two free throws.
Wofford chipped away at the lead with sophomore Liz Miller tallying a pair of free throws of her own at 2:43 to bring the deficit back to single digits, 67-58. She then added a jumper with 2:14 remaining to cut the margin to seven, 67-60. The Terriers would not get any closer the remainder of the contest despite Miller netting three-straight free throws with :34 seconds left.
The two teams remained even throughout the first half with neither squad holding more than a three-point edge. The score was tied six times in the opening stanza and 10 times overall.
The Terriers saw their largest lead of three last happen on a layup by Miller with 6:04 to play in the first half to cap off a 5-0 run and give Wofford (6-4, 0-1 SoCon) a 20-17 advantage. Sophomore Laura Depko hit a jumper followed by a 3-pointer to give the Terriers their final lead of the half, 30-28, with 2:02 showing on the clock. The Lady Catamounts closed the session on a 5-0 spurt, including a trey from Erin May and Monique Dawson's layup with :13 left for a 33-30 halftime score.
Miller paced all players with a career-high 22 points, eclipsing the 20 she scored against Winthrop Dec. 1. Koenig recorded her second career double-double with 10 points and a team-high 11 rebounds. She becomes the third Wofford player this season to register a double-double and is the second in as many games following a 10-point, 13-rebound performance by freshman Kathlyn Varno Dec. 8 against Montreat.
Senior Jennifer Weurding chipped in a season-best 10 points to go along with four blocked shots to move into second place on the Southern Conference's all-time blocked shots list with 194. She surpassed Furman's Rushia Brown (1989-94), who tallied 193 in her career, and now stands just one shy of tying Appalachian State's Valorie Whiteside (1984-88) for the career mark. Weurding also hit a pair of 3-pointers in one game for the first time in her career.
Sophomore Summer Nichols, who had not played since Nov. 22 at Wake Forest, returned to the lineup and hauled in nine rebounds and swiped a team-high four steals.
Keith paced Western Carolina with 11 points and a career and game-high 15 boards, including 13 on the defensive glass. Johnson finished with 17 points in her WCU debut, while Dawson contributed 12 and Pellom added 10. Johnson also matched Weurding with four blocked shots.
The Terriers will return to action at 3 p.m. Tuesday when they host perennial SoCon power Chattanooga as part of a "Day Care Day" promotion. Western Carolina hits the floor next at 2 p.m. Wednesday versus UNC Greensboro also in league play.