Keep It Going
The Chattanooga Lady Mocs have not seen the losing side of a box score since November 25. Wes Moore’s club is in the midst of the longest winning streak in the nation after winning their 20th straight on Monday against Furman in Chattanooga. The Lady Mocs’ victory last Thursday over Western Carolina earned Chattanooga the outright regular season crown for the fourth consecutive season, helping them to pick up a season-high 13 votes in the USA Today ESPN Division I Top 25 Coaches Poll. Overall, Chattanooga has won 12 titles since 1984.
The Right Direction
Appalachian State’s 85-84 victory over Tarheel state rival UNC Greensboro last Saturday commandeered the Mountaineers’ their 11th win of the 2005-06 campaign. The 11 wins tie for the program’s most since the arrival of Adrienne Shuler, who also guided the Mountaineers to 11 wins last season. The 11 wins procured are also the most since the 1999-2000 season for the Mountaineer program, as that particular squad went 13-15.
Opposite Ends Of Spectrum
UNC Greensboro played in two tight contests last week on the road, with nearly the same thing happening in both of its games, but in the end the team seeing both ends of the spectrum. In the Spartans’ first game last week against Appalachian State, UNC Greensboro fouled Appalachian State’s Kiki Conyers with less than five seconds left and the game tied, 84-84. Conyers promptly nailed the first before missing the second one on purpose to solidify the Apps’ 85-84 victory. On Monday against College of Charleston in Charleston things went differently for UNC Greensboro, as this time fouling with little time left did not end the Spartans’ night on the losing end of the box score. Holding a 59-56 lead in the final seconds of the contest, the Cougars’ Anne Hunter was fouled while trying to nail the game-tying three-point shot, sending her to the foul line with a chance to tie the game. Hunter connected on the first two before missing the third, giving the Spartans the victory.
One Last Final Time
College of Charleston’s game against Savannah State on Wednesday will mark the final time that a SoCon team before the NCAA tournament will square off against a non-conference opponent. On the season, SoCon teams are 37-54 against non-league foes, but 23-7 at home.
Mission Accomplished
Furman head coach Sam Dixon had been staring at win No. 60 as the man in charge of the Lady Paladin program for almost four weeks, as the Lady Paladins had not chalked up a win since January 9 until Tuesday, February 7 when Furman bested Palmetto state rival College of Charleston, 64-55, in overtime at Timmons Arena. The Lady Paladins’ season-high nine-game winning streak curtailed, Furman emerged the victor in its next game as well, acquiring Dixon’s 61st victory in a 69-53 win over Upstate rival Wofford last Saturday. The two consecutive wins were done without the services of the head man although, as Dixon was not on the bench for either. Dr. Dixon was tending to family issues that kept him away for the two games.
Help Is On The Way
UNC Greensboro sophomore guard Kemena Brooks was named the Baden SoCon women’s basketball Player of the Week for her exploits on the hardwood last week. The first UNC Greensboro player to earn the honor this season, Brooks came off the bench to average 17.5 points and 5.5 rebounds per game in a 1-1 week for the Spartans last week. Brooks also tallied a career-high 25 points in the Spartans’ loss to Appalachian last Saturday. The catalyst finished the week with the plaudit and having scored in double figures in six of the last seven games that the Spartans have played.
Appalachian State (11-12, 7-7 SoCon)
Appalachian State was successful in its only contest last week, taking a dramatic 85-84 win over UNCG at Holmes last Saturday on Senior Day ... The Mountaineers garnered the win due to Kiki Conyers’ made free throw with less than five seconds remaining ... Conyers, a senior, finished the game with 17 points and three rebounds ... With the win, Appalachian acquired its 11th victory of the 2005-06 campaign, tying coach Adrienne Shuler’s victory mark in a season already ... The 11 wins are the most for the Mountaineer program since the 1999-2000 squad went 13-15 .... Appalachian looks for its first sweep of the year in its game with Wofford on Tuesday ... In regards to teams that they have played twice in the league, Appalachian has succumbed to Chattanooga and Western twice, while splitting with three other conference opponents thus far.
College of Charleston (10-13, 7-8 SoCon)
The Cougars fell in all three of their games last week, falling on the road to Furman in overtime before losing at home to Elon and UNC Greensboro ... College of Charleston’s loss to Elon last Saturday was the first time that the Cougars fell to a team when leading at halftime ... Jade Hughes led or tied for the team scoring high in all three of the Cougars’ games last week after scoring 18 points in the loss to Furman, 10 points in the loss to Elon and 12 points in the Cougars’ 59-58 loss to UNC Greensboro on Monday.
Chattanooga (21-3, 15-0 SoCon)
Chattanooga secured its fourth straight outright regular season league crown with a win over Western Carolina last Thursday ... The title was the seventh outright title for the program and the 12th overall for Chattanooga since 1984 ... The Lady Mocs’ two wins obtained last week extended their winning streak to 20 straight games, a nation-high now after the North Carolina Tarheels fell to Maryland last Thursday ... The 11 consecutive wins that Chattanooga now has on the year at home moved them to fifth in the country in the category since Chattanooga has now won 12 straight at home dating back to its win over Villanova in March of 2005 in the WNIT ... Katasha Brown moved into sixth place all-time at Chattanooga in scoring last week and now has a program-high 203 3-pointers ... Tiffani Roberson moved into 11th place last week in the institutional scoring department ... Roberson now has over 600 career rebounds as well ... Laura Hall connected on a career-high and league-high tying six three-pointers in the Lady Mocs’ win over Western Carolina last Thursday.
Davidson (13-10, 9-5 SoCon)
Davidson tallied a win in its only game last week, which was a 67-52 triumph over Georgia Southern in Statesboro ... The win over the Lady Eagles was the sixth straight for the Wildcats over Georgia Southern ... The victory also provided the Wildcats with their third season sweep of a team on the year ... Davidson has also picked up season sweeps in its two games with College of Charleston and Western Carolina thus far ... Tia Washington shot 60 percent from the field in the win over Georgia Southern, tallying 13 points, three rebounds and two assists ... Washington’s two assists improved her consecutive streak of at least one or more assist in a game to 30 straight.
Elon (11-12, 6-8 SoCon)
Elon was 1-1 on the road last week, starting the week by falling to Wofford in Spartanburg before besting College of Charleston at John Kreese Arena ... Elon continued its stout ways on the defensive side of the ball last week, ending once again atop the conference leaderboard in field goal percentage defense (.363) and three-point field goal percentage defense (.291) ... Robyn Shipley’s three 3-pointers made in the win over College of Charleston moved her into third place in the Elon single-season 3-pointers made list ... Shipley now has 62 for a conference-high 2.70 made per outing ... Shashonna Moore netted a career-high 10 rebounds in the win over the Cougars.
Furman (9-16, 5-10 SoCon)
Furman squashed a season-high nine-game losing streak last week against in-state rival College of Charleston with a 64-55 overtime victory ... Furman won its second consecutive game in a televised (Comcast/Charter Sports Southeast) game victory over Wofford on Saturday ... The Lady Paladins finished the week 2-1 after falling to league-leading Chattanooga on the road ... Melynda Gant, who came off the bench to shoot 4-for-7 from beyond the arc, scored a career-best 18 points in the win over the Terriers ... Furman set a new single-game team high with its 11 blocks accumulated against Wofford ... The 11 blocks tie them with Elon and their 11 blocks picked up against North Carolina A&T in a November game for the league single-game season high.
Georgia Southern (9-15, 6-9 SoCon)
The Lady Eagles fell in both of their outings last week to sit mired in a four-game slide ... Nicole Newton’s 13 rebounds in Georgia Southern’s loss to Davidson fell just one shy of her career high ... The 11 defensive caroms picked up are the most by a GSU player this season ... In GSU’s loss to Western Carolina on Monday, Nya Daley scored a career-best 11 points, going 5-for-9 from the field, while also compiling four rebounds ... Lee Dubose kept her three-point made streak alive in the Western game, waiting until the 3:03 mark of the second half to nail her first of the game to extend her run to 28 straight games, dating back to the 2004-05 campaign.
UNC Greensboro (13-11, 9-6 SoCon)
UNC Greensboro went 1-1 last week in two tight games, losing in the final seconds to Appalachian State in Boone before winning in the final seconds on Monday against College of Charleston ... Kemena Brooks tallied a career-high 25 points in the loss to the Mountaineers and then chalked up a career-best six rebounds in the win over the Cougars ... Brooks, who comes off the bench, has now reached double figures in six of the Spartans’ last seven games ... Meghan Chamberlain also notched a career-high in points, with 16 in the loss to Appalachian ... Kristen Boone had 17 points, five rebounds, five assists and four steals in the Appalachian game ... UNC Greensboro led at half against Charleston for the 15th time this season and is now 12-3 in those games ... After the CofC game, UNCG as a team stands just five blocks short of setting a new single-season record ... With its 59-58 win over the Cougars on Monday, UNC Greensboro won for just the fourth time in the last six years when scoring less than 60 points.
Western Carolina (6-18, 6-9 SoCon)
Western Carolina was 1-1 last week, but has put together its best string on the year, as the defending SoCon champions have gone 3-2 in its last five games ... Despite this fact, the Catamounts have still not been able to solidify a winning streak, as they have not won consecutive games all season ... Erin May led the way for the Catamounts in their win Monday against Georgia Southern in Statesboro, tying her career high with 11 points after her insertion into the starting lineup for the first time since January 28 ... May also acquired six rebounds, three assists and a blocked shot ... Western was 0-for-10 from beyond the arc in the win, snapping a 33-game streak of connecting as a team from beyond the three-point line.
Wofford (7-16, 3-11 SoCon)
Wofford was 1-1 last week, earning a five-point win at home over Elon before falling to Furman in Greenville ... The game against Furman in Greenville marked the first time ever that the Terriers played in front of a televised audience, as the game was broadcast regionally on Comcast/Charter Sports Southeast (CSS) ... Wofford continues to place themselves apart on the national level, as once again last week, the Terriers were ranked No. 1 nationally in steals per game (14.0 per game) ... Nakia Mister was named the Spartanburg Tip-Off Club’s women’s college player of the week on Feb. 10 after becoming just the third player in the Terriers’ Division I era with at least 850 career points and 550 career rebounds.