College of Charleston 83, Lander 58
Jill Furstenburg scored 17, Brooke Kotcella posted 11 and Ashley Scott added 10, all career-highs, to lead the College of Charleston women’s basketball team to the 83-58 win over the Lander Bearcats this evening in front of 326 fans at the John Kresse Arena.
Charleston wins its second in a row to go to 4-5, while Lander falls to 4-5, dropping its third straight. The Cougars host ACC foe Georgia Tech Wednesday, Dec. 20th at 7:00 p.m. Lander takes off for the holidays and resumes action at Francis Marion Tuesday, Jan. 2nd at 5:30 p.m.
Following Furstenburg and her 17 points was Jade Hughes, who posted 16 points and a career-high 11 assists for her second career double-double. Nikki Williams came close to her second career double-double, scoring nine points and a team-leading 10 rebounds.
Leading Lander was Stephanie Ponds with 24 points and 14 rebounds for a double-double. Tiara Good followed with 12 points and with 11 was April McClendon.
After shooting 36.8 percent from the field in the first half the Cougars came back to fire 51.4 in the second to finish the game with 44.0 percent. Lander shot 30.3 percent in the first half and 44.8 in the second for 37.1 for the game.
Charleston held the 46-39 advantage in rebounds and had 17 turnovers, compared to 22 for the Bearcats. The Cougars scored 30 points off turnovers, compared to just 17 for Lander. CofC’s bench was strong tonight, scoring 39 of the 83 points, compared to only two for Lander.
Lander hung in with the Cougars for most of the first half, keeping the margin within five for most of the 20 minutes until a small 7-0 run by the Cougars from 7:33 to 5:29 gave them the nine-point 31-22 lead before a lay-up by Ponds ended the Bearcat drought. Charleston would go into the locker room with the 10-point 36-36 lead.
The Bearcats fought back in the second half and even cut the margin to one on a couple of occasions, its last at the 12:23 mark, 50-49. That would be as close as the Bearcats would get as the Cougars scored 33 points over the next 12 and a half minutes and held Lander to just nine points as the team missed 10 of its final 12 shots. Charleston was able to take the eventual 83-58 win, shooting 60 percent during that stretch.
UNCG 63, High Point 53
GREENSBORO, NC ? UNC Greensboro had three players in doubles figures with senior forward KaLeah Latham leading the way with 16 points as UNCG defeated backyard rival High Point, 63-53 in women’s basketball action at Fleming Gymnasium on Monday night.
Junior Kristen Boone and Jasmine Byrd had 11 points apiece while Latham added nine rebounds. The Spartans extended their homecourt win streak to 10 and head coach Lynne Agee picked up her 499th win as Spartan head coach.
High Point (5-4), who had a three-game win streak snapped, was led by Candyce Sellars who had a game-high 18 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the floor. Amber Manuel was the next leading scorer with nine points. Katie Ralls had seven rebounds to lead the Panthers.
“This was one of our best performances as a team,” head coach Lynne Agee said. “We’ve had to shuffle some people around and we really had some players step up and do what was necessary to get through tonight’s game.”
UNCG opened the second half with a 10-2 run to take a 40-30 point advantage at the 14:56 mark but High Point battled back with a run in the games final two minutes, outscoring UNCG 6-1 to cut the Spartans lead to four with just under a minute remaining in the half. Kristen Boone had a bucket in the paint with just under 30 seconds left to go and Latham sealed the game at the line with two free throws.
The Spartans shot 44.2 percent from the floor on 23-of-52 shooting and grabbed 40 rebounds, including 10 defensive boards. Junior forward Brittany Frazier led UNCG in shooting going 4-of-5 from the floor.
The Spartans started the game on an 11-4 run sparked by senior guard Jasmine Byrd’s three-pointer on UNCG’s first possession. UNCG led by as many as 14 points in the first half, but High Point answered with a run of their own late in the half. The Panthers outscored the Spartans 15-3 in the final minutes of the half to cut the Spartan lead to three points, as they took a 31-28 lead into the locker room.
UNCG had five turnovers in the last four minutes of the half to spark High Point's run late in the half.
“We didn’t do a great job of closing out the halves tonight,“ Agee said. “At the end of both halves we lost our focus a bit and let High Point get back in the game, luckily we we’re able to regain our focus to close out the game.”
The Spartan defense was solid forcing 18 High Point turnovers and coming up with 11 steals. UNCG held High Point’s leading scorer Leslie Cook, who came into the contest averaging better than 12 points per game, to only eight points.
UNCG, which now won 15 straight when holding opponents under 60 points, hosts Southern Conference foe Western Carolina on Wednesday. Tip off is set for 2 pm in Fleming Gymnasium.
Furman 91, Columbia 34
Greenville, S.C. -- Furman recorded 42 points in the paint, and all 13 Lady Paladins scored as Furman defeated Columbia College (S.C.) 91-34 on Monday night at Timmons Arena.
Furman shot a season high 54 percent (34-63) from the field and connected on eight three pointers en route to its largest margin of victory since a
125-59 win over Charleston Southern on January 16, 1991.
The Lady Paladins placed three scorers in double-digits, led by Melissa Liebschwager’s career-high 13 points. The sophomore from Memphis, Tenn.
was 5-for-9 from the floor, including 3-of-5 from beyond the arc, and added a team-high five assists.
Jessica Lange contributed 12 points on 6-of-7 shooting from the floor in only 18 minutes. The junior forward has now made 16 of her last 19 shots over the last three games. Lee Stephens also reached double-figures in scoring with 11 points, including three treys.
Furman raced out to a quick 10-2 lead in the first four minutes of the opening period. After a Donee Taylor free throw made the lead 12-3 at the
15 minute mark, Furman used a 23-5 run over the next six and a half minutes to increase its lead to 27 points at 35-8.
The Lady Paladins used a13-2 run in the second half to build its lead to
44 with 10 minutes remaining. Furman’s largest lead of the night came at the 1:33 mark of the second half as Liebschwager’s three-pointer put Furman ahead 91-31, and Taylor’s three-pointer with one minute left provided the final scoring.
Furman held a 50-20 advantage on the boards, including 20 offensive rebounds. The Lady Paladins made good on 20 second chance points. Furman also forced the Fighting Koalas into 26 turnovers, which the Lady Paladins changed into 38 points. Furman also held a 45-0 advantage in points off the bench.
Mollie Petersen scored a career-high eight points on 4-of-5 shooting from the floor in just nine minutes. Katie Johnson matched her career-high with four blocked shots.
With the win, Furman improves to 5-5 on the season, while Columbia College falls to 3-8 overall this year. The Lady Paladins return to action on Thursday night as Furman travels to face Texas Tech at 8:00 p.m. at the United Spirit Arena in Lubbock, Texas.
Radford 68, Appalachian State 56
RADFORD, Va. ? Junior Whitney Tossie (Oviedo, Fla.) came one steal shy of a triple-double as the Appalachian State University women’s basketball team fell to Radford University, 68-56, Monday evening at the Dedmon Center.
Appalachian falls to 6-5 with the loss, while Radford improves to 4-4 overall. Rebounding proved to be the key of the game as the Highlanders out-rebounded the Mountaineers, 47-34, with 22 of their rebounds coming on the offensive end. Turnovers were also costly for ASU, as RU converted 28 points off of Appalachian’s 26 turnovers. A total of 44 fouls were whistled in the game, 21 on the visitors and 23 on the home team.
Tossie led the Mountaineers throughout as the only player on the team to score in double-digits with a game-high 19 points. She added team highs with 10 points and nine of the team’s 14 steals. Tossie is coming off an 11-steal performance against Elon on Saturday.
Brittany Mixon (Altamonte Springs, Fla.), playing in just her third game of the season, added eight points and five rebounds.
Three Highlanders put up double-digit points, led by Sarah Stephens with
17 points. Corrie Fertitta compiled a double-double with 13 points and
12 rebounds, while Johnette Walker added 12 points. Stephens and Fertitta led the team with five steals apiece.
The Highlanders opened the second half by outscoring the Mountaineers,
15-4 in the first six minutes to extend its lead to 21 at 54-33. After an ASU timeout, the visitors put five more points on the board before a technical foul was called on the ASU bench.
Trailing 61-40 with 6:55 to go in the game, Appalachian used a 14-5 run to pull within 12 points at 66-54 with 1:51 to play. Radford added another basket at the 1:18 mark and ASU scored its final hoop with 15 seconds to go as the Highlanders went on to a 65-56 win.
Trailing 10-3 in the first half, ASU scored four-straight points to pull within three at 10-7. Radford countered with a 10-0 run of their own to extend its lead to 13, 20-7, after the second media timeout. GiGi Thomas ended the streak with a jumper in the paint at the 9:54 mark.
Appalachian used buckets by three separate players, including Whitney Randolph’s second career three-pointer to pull within six points at 22-16. ASU continued to claw back, cutting the lead to four at 27-23 with five minutes to play in the half. The Mountaineers couldn’t take advantage of a Radford intentional foul, and RU scored another bucket to extend the lead to six with 3:48 to play.
Grimes hit four-straight free throws as ASU pulled within two points at
29-27 with 3:23 left in the half. Radford ended the half with a 10-2 run to go into halftime with a 39-29 lead.
The Mountaineers return home for one more game before the holiday as they host VCU, Thursday, December 21 at 5 p.m. at the Holmes Center.
After that, the Apps travel to Charleston, S.C. to resume Southern Conference play against the College of Charleston, December 29.
Davidson 67, Eastern Washington 58
CHENEY, Wash. -- Senior Brynn Kelly (Spokane, Wash.) had a strong showing in the first game of her return trip home with 10 points and seven boards, and fellow senior Tia Washington (Charlotte, N.C.) made sure the Wildcats would tie the school record with its seventh straight victory as she sealed the win by scoring the final five points from the charity stripe in leading Davidson to a 67-58 decision over Eastern Washington on Monday evening at Reese Court.
The Wildcats continued their best start in school history, improving to 10-2 overall with the non-conference win. Davidson also matched the 1998-99 squad with the most wins in a row at seven. The Eagles dropped their seventh game in the past eight, falling to 4-7 overall.
After taking a quick one-point lead in the first part of the second half, Davidson found its self trailing 43-39 with 12:53 remaining in the game. Kelly got the hometown crowd on their feet and helped the Wildcats start an 11-3 run with a bucket inside off a pass from sophomore Kelly Gassie (Mt. Juliet, Tenn.) and senior Jessica Mitchell (Wilkesboro, N.C.) topped it off with a jumper just inside the paint as Davidson stormed back to take its biggest lead at the time, 51-46, with 9:18 left in the game.
Davidson would maintain at least a three-point lead over the next five and half minutes, till Washington pushed the Wildcat advantage out to seven points on a clutch three-point play for a 60-53 lead. Washington scored eight of her 12 points in the second half, with six of them coming from the free throw line.
Washington later proceeded to sink five of six free throws in the final minute to help secure the win for Davidson after it trailed heading into halftime 31-30. It marked the second time the Wildcats had come back this year to win after trailing at halftime.
Davidson's defense was up to the task once again, especially in the second half, in helping the Wildcats preserve the win. They forced a season-high 30 turnovers, 16 in the second half, and turned those Eagle miscues into 27 points.
Both teams went back and forth to open play with each holding leads of at least three points through the first seven minutes of play.
After both teams went scoreless for almost three minutes, Eastern Washington used a Joanna Chadd jumper and an Amanda Murdoch three-pointer to open up its biggest lead of the half at 18-12 with 8:03 on the clock.
Davidson chipped away and closed the gap to one, 31-30, in the last 50 seconds. The 'Cats scored the final five points of the half on junior Honna Housley's (Riceville, Tenn.) jumper and free throw, and Gassie's fade away 10-footer with three seconds on the clock. Gassie was the main force in keeping the Wildcats afloat in the first half, scoring seven of her team-high 13 points in the first stanza. She helped the Wildcat bench outscore the Eagles 24-18.
Eastern Washington placed three players in double-digits led by Sydney Benson's game-high 15 points. EWU won the rebounding margin, 42-32, as both Benson and Tara Holgate pulled down seven apiece. The Wildcats though, held the Eagles' leading scorer Chadd to four points, 11 off her season average.
Davidson finishes its stay in Washington with a game against the West Coast Conference Gonzaga Bulldogs on Wednesday, Dec. 20 in Spokane. Tip-off is set for 10 p.m. (EST).