Story Courtesy Wofford sports information
UNC Greensboro 67, Wofford 55
SPARTANBURG, SC - UNC Greensboro built a 28-point halftime cushion and fought off an attempted Wofford comeback to claim a 67-55 victory Tuesday night in the Benjamin Johnson Arena.
The Spartans held the Terriers to 22.7 percent from the field on 5-of-22 field goals in the opening session to take a 43-15 into the break. Back-to-back buckets by Meghan Chamberlain gave the visitors the early 4-0 lead it would never relinquish.
After Wofford received its first seven points from Mary Jo Yee, Summer Nichols brought the Terriers within one, 10-9, on a jumper with 14:09 remaining in the stanza. Her field goal would be the last points for Wofford until the 4:52 mark when Yee drained a pair of free throws. Over the 9:17 scoreless streak, UNCG took a commanding 33-11 advantage on 23 straight points. Six different Spartans tallied points during the surge.
Kelsi Koenig, the Terriers' leading scorer and rebounder who was returning to action after missing the last two games due to injury, also hit a pair of free throws and Susanna Paul added a layup before the half ended.
Wofford (7-19, 3-14 SoCon) used higher defensive intensity and pressure in the second half as an attempt to chip away at the deficit. A Jasmine Byrd free throw with 14:56 gave UNC Greensboro (15-11, 11-6 SoCon) its largest edge at 30, 57-27 before the Terriers used a 19-4 run of their own over the next 10:15 to climb back into the game and trail by 15, 61-46.
Caroline Blair knocked down a set of charity tosses as the Spartans increased their lead back to 17, 65-48, with 1:47 left. Only another pair of free throws, this time by Kristen Boone, added to UNCG's score the remainder of the game as Wofford closed the outing on a 7-2 spurt capped by a Laura Depko layup with :01 remaining.
Byrd led the Spartans with 13 points, while Chamberlain and Blair each added 10. Irene Otamiri finished with a near double-double of nine points and eight rebounds.
UNC Greensboro shot 51.0 percent from the floor for the game on 26-of-51 field goals compared to a 36.4 percent effort on 20-of-55 by the Terriers.
Yee garnered game-high scoring honors with her 17 points, which included three 3-pointers. Paul added a season and team-best seven rebounds off the bench. Depko's six rebounds matches her career-best effort.
Jenny Weurding collected two blocked shots to raise her career tally to 167, two shy of the Wofford school-record 169 set by Lucy Hines (1997-2001). Nichols registered two blocks for a career high.
Nakia Mister is also approaching a school record. She is within seven of Ricaye Harris (2001-05) for the all-time mark in steals with 192, just shy of Harris' 199.
Story Courtesy Furman sports information
Elon 50, Furman 47
GREENVILLE, SC - Kitara McMoore registered her 10th double-double of the season, and Elon withstood a Furman rally as the Phoenix defeated the Lady Paladins 50-47 on Tuesday night at Timmons Arena. McMoore, the Southern Conference's leading scorer and rebounder, scored 21 points and pulled down 12 rebounds.
Furman shot just 17.9 percent on 5-of-28 from the floor in the second half. Elon was 12-of-22 (54.5 percent) in the second period.
Elon (12-14 overall, 7-10 Southern Conference) held a six point lead with 1:24 remaining in the second half when Melynda Gant hot consecutive free throws to trim the lead to four. After a Gant steal, and a Tommi Paris three-pointer, the lead was one with the score 46-45. A Tierra Bumbrey layup gave the Phoneix a three-point cushion, but a Paris layup cut the lead to one with 39 seconds left. McMoore's short jump shot increased the Elon lead to 50-47, and Furman was unable to connect on two desperation three-pointers in its final possession.
The Lady Paladins (9-18, 5-12 SoCon) were led by Paris with 16 points, including 4-of-5 from beyond the arc, in her final home game. Gant, also a senior, contributed 10 points and seven rebounds for Furman.
Furman managed just 28.6 percent (16-56) shooting on the night, compared to 46.8 percent for the Phoenix. Elon held the rebounding advantage 39-32, but Furman forced the Phoenix into 19 turnovers.
The Lady Paladins trailed by three points in the first half before an 8-2 run to end the half gave Furman a 29-26 advantage at the intermission.
Paris, ranked first in the conference and fifth nationally in free throw percentage, converted both of her attempts to push her league-leading average to 91.8 percent. The senior from Chattanooga, Tenn., ranks among the conference leaders in three-point field goal percentage and three-pointers made, improved on her numbers by nailing 4-of-5 attempts from behind the line.
Sophomore Jessica Lange failed to block a shot in the contest, the first time she has failed to register a blocked shot in 17 games, dating back to Dec. 29 against University of Maryland-Eastern Shore.
Story Courtesy Davidson sports information
Appalachian State 74, Davidson 68
DAVIDSON, NC ? Appalachian State hit 9-of-16 shots from three-point land, including six threes in the second half, and Kiki Conyers dropped in a game-high 24 as the Davidson women's basketball team was sweep by the Mountaineers in its regular-season-series, falling 74-68 on Tuesday, Feb. 21. The Wildcats dropped into a tie with UNC Greensboro for second place in the Southern Conference after the Spartans were victorious against Wofford this evening. Davidson saw its record fall to 15-11 overall and 11-6 in SoCon play. Appalachian State won its fourth straight, moving to 14-12 overall and 10-7 in the conference.
After a free throw by freshman Mercedes Robinson (Baltimore, Md.) pushed the Wildcat lead to six at 43-37 with 13:37 to go in the second half, the Mountaineers found their hot-hand behind the arc.
Conyers came down on the next possession for Appalachian State and hit the first of four three-pointers by ASU in a little over a three minute span to cut the lead down to three at 43-40. Conyers added another three-ball at the 11:10 mark and teammates Whitney Tossie and Eboni Kirby assisted with threes of their own to help the Mountaineers regain the lead at 51-44 with 9:10 left in the game. The 14-2 run turned out to be the turning point in the game.
The Mountaineers maintained at least a five point lead over the next five and half minutes till junior Jessica Mitchell (Wilkesboro, N.C.) brought Davidson to within four, 63-59, at the 3:48 mark with her second three-pointer of the night. Mitchell finished with 18 points, her sixth straight game in double-figures, on 5-of-13 shooting from the field with three shots going in from behind the arc.
It was as close as Davidson would get though, missing three shots from downtown in the closing minutes and Appalachian State sealed the victory by going 9-for-13 in the last minute of play at the free throw line for the 74-68 win. Overall, the Mountaineers were 13-for-19 from the charity stripe in the second half.
The first half saw seven lead changes and four ties. The Mountaineers maintained a 12-8 lead through the first five minutes of play. The Wildcats then came back to take its first lead at 18-16 with 10:21 on the clock after a layup by senior Janell Crayton (Atlanta, Ga.). Crayton and junior Brynn Kelly (Spokane, Wash.) wish they could restart the game after finishing a combined 2-of-16 from the field for only 10 points.
The Wildcats biggest lead of the first half was five, 27-22, when Kelly hit a three-pointer with 6:02 left in the half, but Appalachian State used an 11-3 run to close out the half and led at intermission, 33-30.
Freshman Kelly Gassie (Mt. Juliet, Tenn.) chipped in with 18 points to give Davidson three players in double-figures, while Robinson matched her season-high in rebounds with 12. Davidson's streak of at least 10 or more steals was snapped at 11 games after pocketing nine for the game.
Appalachian State also placed three players in double-digits with Tossie and Kirby finishing with 11 and 14 points, respectively.