College of Charleston 73, Appalachian State 65
CHARLESTON, S.C. - Jill Furstenburg's career-high 20 points, along with Melissa Chambers' 17 points and seven rebounds led the College of Charleston women's basketball team to a victory over the Appalachian State Mountaineers, 73-65, this afternoon before 263 fans at the John
Kresse Arena.
The victory improves Charleston's record to 5-6 overall and 2-0 in the SoCon, while Appalachian State's record drops to 7-6 overall and 1-1 in the SoCon. The Cougars will host SoCon foe Davidson on Monday, Jan. 1, 2007 at 2 p.m. Appalachian State's next game will be at Furman on Jan. 2, 2007 at 5 p.m.
The Cougars received major contributions from Ashley Scott, who scored a career-high 11 points with five rebounds, and Nikki Williams, who scored seven points and a team-high eight rebounds.
Leading Appalachian State was Maria Grimes, who scored 20 points with three assists and three steals for the Mountaineers. Whitney Ketner and Whitney Tossie each scored 12 points for Appalachian State.
In the first half, Appalachian State took a 22-20 lead with a three-pointer from Tossie with 9:27 left in the half. Charleston proceeded to go on a 20-0 run that was culminated with a converted
free-throw attempt by Deidra Jones with 42 seconds left in the half.
At the end of the first half, Charleston led the game, 40-25, while shooting 50.0 percent from the field, while Appalachian State shot 45.5.
Appalachian State made a comeback in the second half and two converted free-throws by Grimes with 2:49 left in the game made the score 66-62, in favor of Charleston. However, a three-pointer by Furstenberg with 2:17 left gave the Cougars a seven point lead they would not relinquish. The three-point field goal was the fourth of the game for Furstenburg, a career-high.
For the game, Charleston shot 45.8 percent from the field, including making seven three-pointers and going 12-19 from the free-throw line. Appalachian State shot 42.3 percent from the field, made six three-pointers and went 15-27 from the free-throw line.
CofC held a 40-32 rebounding advantage and had 21 turnovers, while Appalachian State had 20.
#1 Maryland 92, UNC Greensboro 57
COLLEGE PARK, MD -- The defending national champion, Maryland Terrapins had six players in doubles figures as top-ranked Maryland defeated UNC Greensboro 92-57 Friday night at the Comcast Center.
UNCG (6-5) was led by senior guard Jasmine Byrd who had 15 points on 6-of 19 shooting. The Spartans next leading scorer was senior forward KaLeah Latham who had nine points. Latham and Meghan Chamberlain had four rebounds each. Byrd also added four steals.
Kristi Tolivar led Maryland (14-0) with a game-high 16 points on 4-of-6 shooting, all from behind the arc. She was also 4-of-4 from the charity stripe.
“I was very proud of the effort tonight,” head coach Lynn Agee said. “This game for us was about composure and ball control. We didn’t do a great job in the first half but we we’re able to control the ball better in the second half and were able to make some big shots. Playing the No. 1 team in the country you’re kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place but I was proud of the way that everyone stepped up and contributed tonight. ”
UNCG continued the 8-2 run they used to close the first half to open the second half behind a quick steal and layup by Jasmine Bryd, cutting the Maryland lead to 16. Spartan seniors Byrd and Latham kept the Spartans in the game early in the second stanza, scoring UNCG’s first 10 points of the half to cut the lead to 38-55 at the 15:36 mark.
The teams continued to trade buckets throughout the half and UNCG was able to cut the Maryland lead to 16 points, but couldn’t stop Maryland’s offense as the Terrapins picked up their 14th consecutive victory.
The Spartans shot 23-of-64 from the floor, good for 35.9 percent and shot 23.1 percent from behind the arc.
UNCG started the game strong, winning the tip and taking an early three-point lead with a bucket by Irene Otamiri on the first possession. Maryland got on the board behind free thows by Shay Doran to cut the Spartan lead to one in the games early goings.
The Spartans capitalized on several Maryland miscues and took a 13-12 lead at the 13:11 mark but three unanswered buckets gave the Terps a six point lead with just over 10 minutes left in the half. UNCG was able to gain some momentum when Kristen Brooks took a charge at mid-court and Otamiri was able to cut the Maryland lead to four with a jumper in the lane midway through the half.
Maryland went on a 14-8 run to close the half, while UNCG closed with three unanswered buckets as Maryland took the 48-25 halftime lead.
UNCG shot 11-of-13 in the first half, good for 35.5 percent and forced 12 turnovers, while Maryland out-rebounded the Spartans 21-10, through the first stanza.
The Spartans will take on Liberty Saturday Dec. 30 at 3:30 pm in their final game of the Terrapin Classic