Story Courtesy College of Charleston sports information
UNC Greensboro 59, College of Charleston 58
CHARLESTON, SC - The College of Charleston fought back from a ten-point second-half deficit only to fall just short in the final seconds as UNC Greensboro held on for the 59-58 victory in Southern Conference women’s basketball action Monday night in front of 326 fans at the John Kresse Arena.
UNCG held a three point, 59-56, lead in the closing seconds of regulation when Charleston’s Anne Hunter was fouled in the process of taking a 3-point shot. Hunter calmly buried the first two shots. The Spartans called a timeout to ice the shooter and it worked as Hunter’s third attempt rattled off the rim and the clock ran out with UNCG’s KaLeah Latham holding on to the rebound.
Irene Otamiri scored a team-high 12 points for UNCG (13-11, 9-6 SoCon). Sophomore guard Kemena Brooks scored in double figures for the sixth time in the last seven games with 10 points. Latham added nine, while sophomore center Meghan Chamberlain and sophomore guard Kristen Boone each tossed in eight points respectively.
Jade Hughes paced Charleston (10-13, 7-8 SoCon) with 12 points, while Erika Smith added 10 points for the Cougars, who have now dropped three in a row.
Latham would give the Spartans a seemingly comfortable 12 point, 41-29, lead on a 3-pointer from the top of the arc at the 16:17 mark of the second half. The margin was quickly cut down to four, 47-43, after a 14-6 Cougar run, which was capped by a trey by Hughes.
Brooks and Otamiri drilled consecutive 3-pointers to put UNCG back up ten, 53-43, with 9:04 left in regulation, but six straight points by the Cougars made it a 53-49 affair with 6:54 to go. A Hughes’ trey with under a minute to play got Charleston within three, 59-56, setting up the drama at the end of the game by Hunter.
After Charleston opened the game with a 3-pointer by Hughes, UNCG ran off a 19-4 run to grab an early 19-7 lead by the 9:21 mark of the first half. Chamberlain scored five points in the spurt, while the Cougars went 8:26 without scoring to fuel the spurt for the Spartans.
Eight straight points by Charleston, capped by a Moye jumper at the 5:86 mark, cut the Cougars deficit to 19-15. The Spartans went back up 10, 31-21, on a fast-break layup by Brooks in the final minute of the first half, before UNCG went into halftime leading 32-23.
Charleston held a slim 42-41 rebounding advantage. UNCG shot 38.7 percent (23-for-63) from the field, while the Cougars shot 36.1 percent (22-for-61). The Spartans had a 15-9 lead in points off turnovers, but Charleston had a 14-7 advantage in second chance points.
Story Courtesy Chattanooga sports information
Chattanooga 67, Furman 44
CHATTANOOGA, TN - Chattanooga outrebounded Furman 47-25 Monday night in Southern Conference action and held the Paladins to just six offensive rebounds to win 67-44 at the McKenzie Arena.
Defense was the key to Chattanooga’s game. The Lady Mocs shot a dismal 38.6 percent from the floor but grabbed 20 offensive boards, its best of the season, resulting in 17 second chance points. Alex Anderson had a game-high 11 rebounds, while Tiffani Roberson had eight and Katasha Brown added seven.
“I am excited about the offensive boards,” Lady Mocs Head Coach Wes Moore said. “Alex getting six, Tiffani getting five and Katasha had four. That could serve us well down the stretch. I keep telling them that there’s going to be a game where you don’t shoot well and you’re going to have to win with defense and rebounding.”
The game started slow with three turnovers in the first 52 seconds and three missed Chattanooga shots before Anderson hit a jumper two minutes into the game sparking a 12-3 run by the Lady Mocs. Brown’s 3-pointer that capped off the run was her 200th career trey. She went 4-for-8 from beyond the arc scoring 12 points.
The two teams combined for 3-of-13 from the floor over the first 4:30 of the game and five turnovers. Chattanooga shot well below its average of 46.5 percent hitting a lackluster 22-of-57 and was 38.5 percent from the 3-point line.
“It wasn’t very pretty,” Moore said. “We should have issued hard hats to anyone sitting on the first five rows for their protection because we were slinging it around. This team shoots too well to miss out on too many opportunities for open looks. We were trying to hit the homerun right off the bat, but we weren’t making good decisions.”
Chattanooga led 30-22 at the break shooting just 33.3 percent. In the second half, the Lady Mocs built their lead to 17 points on a 3-pointer from Brown at the 9:51 mark to make it 51-34. UTC’s largest lead of the game was 67-42 with just under three minutes to play on a 3-pointer from Brooke Hand who led all scorers with 18 points and four 3-pointers.
Brown’s four 3-pointers moved her past the 200 mark for her career and her 12 points placed her sixth all-time on UTC’s scoring charts with 1,393 points. Tiffani Roberson was the third Chattanooga player in double-digits with 12 points and is now 11th all-time with 1,258. Nicole Mattison and Laura Hall dished out five assists apiece.
The Paladins, led by Chattanooga native Tommi Paris with 12 points, managed just four points in the final 6:03 of the game. Paris had a pair of 3-pointers on six attempts. Melissa Liebschwager put up 10 points while Megan Scott pulled down a team-best seven boards. Jessica Lange made it difficult inside for Chattanooga with four blocked shots.
The Lady Mocs extend their nation-leading win streak to 20 games and improve to 21-3 on the season and 15-0 in league play. The win was UTC’s 12th consecutive at McKenzie Arena, tying the Lady Mocs for fifth in the country for consecutive home court wins.
Furman falls to 9-16 overall and 5-10 in Southern Conference action. Chattanooga will be on the road to take on College of Charleston Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m., in Charleston, S.C. The Paladins will host Western Carolina at 3 p.m. Saturday in Greenville, S.C.
“Tonight we saw a difference on the offensive boards,” Moore said. “That’s encouraging, but we still have a way to go. Having to do other things to be successful will help us down the road. If we can keep those numbers I like our chances in most games.”
Story Courtesy Georgia Southern sports information
Western Carolina 65, Georgia Southern 62
STATESBORO, GA - It was Western Carolina’s turn to get the lucky bounce.
Two short Georgia Southern shots in the paint in the final 13 seconds just wouldn’t go in as the Catamounts held on for a 65-62 Southern Conference women’s basketball win Monday night at Hanner Fieldhouse.
In the teams’ first meeting this season Jan. 16 in Cullowhee, a WCU lay-up at the buzzer fell off the rim to give the Lady Eagles a 72-70 victory. In last year’s SoCon Tournament final, Western survived a 3-point attempt at the horn to preserve a 97-95 double overtime win.
Georgia Southern had another chance with 1.4 seconds left to tie the game after two free throws by Chevon Keith, but did not hit the rim.
GSU senior Nicole Newton (Dublin, Ga.) led all scorers with 14 points, 10 in the second half, and grabbed a game-best nine rebounds. Freshman Nya Daley (Toronto, Ontario, Canada) and sophomore Shawnda Atwood (Pensacola, Fla.) each tallied 11 points. Daley’s total was a new career high.
“I thought Nya had a great game tonight,” said GSU head coach Rusty Cram. “She came in and gave us a great spark off the bench.”
Erin May totaled a team-high 11 points for Western Carolina, setting a new personal best. Keith came off the bench to post 10 points and eight boards.
The loss for GSU spoiled a 15-point first-half comeback. Western Carolina won the rebounding battle for the game 53-44 but did not make a 3-point field goal, snapping a 33-game streak.
Tied at the half, the Catamounts took a three-point advantage two-minutes in, but buckets from Daley and Newton gave the Lady Eagles their first lead of the contest.
Neither team led by more than three until a lay-up by sophomore Chequilla Jessie (Sanford, Fla.) put GSU up by five, 51-46. Jessie’s bucket finished off a 6-0 run.
Western had a rally of its own, coming back from a six-point deficit. A jumper by Daley gave the Lady Eagles a 57-51 lead, but the team proceeded to go over four minutes without a point as WCU ran off eight straight to go ahead 59-57.
The lead changed hands four times in a two minute stretch. Georgia Southern senior Lee DuBose (Jefferson, Ga.) broke the scoreless drought with her only triple of the game (60-59) at the 3:03 mark, but Ashley Pellom answered with a jumper 1:04 later (61-60). Newton nailed a turn-around jumper in the lane (62-61) with 1:27 left, but on the Catamounts’ next trip down the floor, Amelia Miller put WCU on top for good (63-62) with 1:14 remaining.
On GSU’s penultimate possession, two shots in the lane by Atwood wouldn’t fall. Atwood got her own rebound on the first shot but was unable to convert. Keith hit two free throws with six seconds left and the tying 3-point attempt didn’t go.
“I thought in the second half it was point-for-point,” added Cram. “We'd get a run going and we'd have to rest somebody and we couldn't find that right combination on the floor to get it done. That's been our problem the last month of the season.”
It was another slow start on offense for the Lady Eagles who scored just six points and one field goal through the first eight minutes as Western Carolina built a 17-6 lead.
The Catamounts led by 15 on four different occasions, the last 29-14 with 6:51 remaining before Georgia Southern started its comeback.
Daley started the run with a three, but two free throws by Pellom put WCU up 12, 33-21, with 4:40 left in the half. It would be the last points of the period for Western, as GSU scored the last 12 points to go into the break tied at 33-33.
Newton and Atwood each contributed four points during the run and Atwood’s jumper with eight seconds left tied the game for the first time since the opening tip.
The Catamounts dominated the boards in the first period, out-rebounding GSU 26-16. After committing nine turnovers in the first 10 minutes, the Lady Eagles had just four the rest of the half.