Story Courtesy Wofford sports information
Wofford 49, Elon 44
SPARTANBURG, SC - Led by 16 points, including 13 in the second half, from senior Nakia Mister, the Wofford women's basketball team rallied for a 49-44 triumph against Elon Tuesday night in the Benjamin Johnson Arena. Mister finished 7-of-10 from the field, including her first 3-pointer since at Davidson Feb. 15, 2003, as a freshman, for the game-high scoring honors. She also collected a game-high tying five rebounds and had the Terriers' lone block to go along with two steals on the defensive end.
Following a Nicole Allison bucket to give the Phoenix a 42-40 edge with 1:56 left, Mister scored her final basket to tie the game at 42-42 with 1:46 to play. The field goal, her fifth consecutive for the club since hitting the trey with 8:49 remaining, was part of a 21-7 Wofford run as the Terriers received four more points from junior Mary Jo Yee, which included a pair of free throws, to take the lead for good. Mister then assisted on Wofford's final points of the game, a layup by sophomore Kelsi Koenig with just over a second left.
Elon (10-12, 5-8 SoCon) held a slim 23-20 lead at the half on the strength of seven points from Katie Whidden. Following an Allison triple to give the visitors the largest margin by either squad at nine, 21-12, with 8:53 to play in the stanza, neither team scored again until Koenig sank a pair of free throws with 3:27 to play. Her two points began an 8-2 Terrier run to close the opening period. Yee added four points, including another set of charity tosses, in the spurt.
The Southern Conference's leading scorer and rebounder Kitara McMoore made a pair of layups to keep the advantage at seven, 30-23, with 15:37 to play in the contest. The final seven-point edge by the Phoenix came on a Robyn Shipley jumper at the 13:21 mark and made the score 32-25.
In addition to Mister's 16 points, Wofford (7-15, 3-10 SoCon) received 12 points from junior Jenny Weurding on 6-of-7 shooting. She hit her first five field goal attempts. Yee finished with nine points, including a 5-of-6 from the foul line. Junior K.C. Correll tied Mister for game-high honors with five rebounds.
Freshman Liz Miller swiped a career-high tying six steals. The total also ties the Terrier Division I (1995-present) single-game record.
Pacing the Elon attack was McMoore with 10 points and five rebounds, well below her league-leading averages 14.5 ppg and 9.4 rpg. Whidden concluded the contest with seven points, all in the first half, and five caroms. Shipley hit a pair of treys to register eight points.
Wofford's three league wins are the most since the Terriers won nine during the 2001-02 campaign, while Wofford has now won back-to-back home games against the Phoenix following a 68-63 victory Jan. 2, 2005.
The Terriers will return to action at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at Furman in Greenville, S.C. The game will be broadcast live on CSS-TV, marking the first televised contest in program history.
Story Courtesy Furman sports information
Furman 64, College of Charleston 55 (OT)
GREENVILLE, SC - Chrissy Phelps led four double-figure scorers with 14 points as Furman ended its nine-game losing streak and defeated College of Charleston 64-55 in overtime on Tuesday night at Timmons Arena. The Lady Paladins last win came on January 7 as Furman beat Georgia Southern 73-62.
Furman was without head coach Sam Dixon, who returned home following the death of his mother on Saturday evening. Assistant coach Jonathon Barbaree took over the head coaching duties for the Lady Paladins.
"Tonight's win was huge for our team," said Barbaree. "We have been going through a slump recently, and it's always good to get back into the win column. We took a lead in the second half, but, to Charleston's credit, they made a run. Our girls never quit, adn we came away with the win."
Charleston took an early lead in overtime as Erika Smith's jumper made it 53-51 with 3:47 left in the extra frame. Furman then answered with a 13-0 run before a Jade Hughes layup with two seconds left finished the scoring. Jessica Lange hit a mid-range jumpshot, and Furman, tops in the Southern Conference in free-throw percentage (.735), hit 10-of-11 to seal the win for the Lady Paladins.
Phelps led the Lady Paladin scoring effort with 14 points. Paris scored 12 points, and Megan Scott and Jessica Lange also reached double-figures with 11 and 10 points, respectively. Scott was tops on the boards with eight rebounds. Furman only shot 19-of-54 (.352) from the field, but the Lady Paladins were able to turn 11 offensive rebounds into 10 second-chance points, and made 21-of-26 (.808) free throws.
Furman had to fight to send the game into overtime as College of Charleston overcame a ten-point deficit over the final 7:32 of the second half. With the Lady Paladins holding a 48-46 lead with 2:40 remaining, a Jade Smith three-pointer and a Smith jump shot gave the visitors a three point lead at 51-48. Paris hit a clutch trey with just seven seconds left to send the game to overtime.
"This is a good win for our team because losing nine in a row started to wear us down," said Paris. "On the last play of regulation, Charleston took away the option that we wanted coming out of the timeout. I was able to get an open look at the basket, and just had to lock and load. It's is a big win because we really wanted to win this one for Coach Dixon."
Jade Hughes was the game's leading scorer with 18 points, while Smith also reached double-figures with 10 points.
The first half began like many during the Lady Paladins' recent losing skid. With the game tied at eight points apiece, Charleston reeled off an 11-0 run to take a 19-8 lead with under seven minutes to go in the first period. Furman then pieced together a 17-3 run to close the half with a 25-22 lead.
"We have been talking with Coach Dixon a lot this week about our gameplan," said Barbaree. "We wanted to be sure that our girls played tough on defense, and were able to execute our offense. It was a big win for our program and now we are looking forward to our game against Wofford on Saturday."
With the win, Furman improves to 8-15 overall, 4-9 in the Southern Conference. College of Charleston drops to 10-11 on the season, 7-6 in conference action.