College of Charleston 73, UNCG 61
Nikki Williams tied her career-high with 23 points, including a career-mark six three-pointers, to lead the College of Charleston women's basketball team to the 73-61 win over the UNC Greensboro Spartans in front of 388 fans this afternoon at the John Kresse Arena.
Charleston wins its third straight to go to 9-8 overall and 5-2 in the Southern Conference. UNCG falls to 11-8 and 4-3 in the league. The three-game winning streak for the Cougars is the longest of the season and longest since CofC won four straight from Feb. 14, 2005 ? Feb. 21, 2005.
UNC Greensboro led 18-12 with 13:30 left in the first half before the Cougar offense took over, taking CofC on a 28-9 run over the remainder of the half to go into the locker room with the 40-27 lead. The run was led by Williams, who posted 14 points during the stretch. For the half, the Cougars were six-for-10 from behind the three-point arc and shot 45.2 percent from the field, compared to just 25.0 percent for the Spartans.
Charleston led by as many as 26 points in the second half, 57-31 with 12:12 to go in the game, before the Spartans went on a 22-6 run to cut the margin to 10 with 3:09 left. Leading 63-53, the Cougars connected on eight of 12 free throws down the stretch to take the eventual 73-61 win.
Charleston shot 43.5 percent from the field in the second half for a 44.4 percentage for the game. UNCG improved to 35.9 percent in the second half to finish the game with 31.0 percent. The Spartans held the 47-40 advantage in rebounds and had two fewer turnovers, 20-18. The Cougars shot 63.0 percent from the free-throw line, connecting on 17-of-27. UNCG was 11-for-19. For the game Charleston hit eight of-16 three-pointers, compared to UNCG’s six-of 23.
Leading Charleston was Williams with her 23 points, following her was Jade Hughes with 16 points. Erika Smith followed with 11 points and with 10 was Jill Furstenburg. Smith and Ashley Scott led in rebounds with seven apiece.
UNC Greensboro was led by Kristine Boone with 14 points. Kaleah Latham posted a double-double with 11 points and a team-leading 11 rebounds.
Charleston hosts Chattanooga Saturday, Jan. 20th at 2:00 p.m. while UNC Greensboro hosts Elon the same date and time.
Chattanooga 61, Furman 40
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. -- Three Lady Mocs scored in double-digits to lead Chattanooga past Furman 61-40 Monday night in Southern Conference action at the Roundhouse.
“It was a great effort by our kids,” Lady Mocs head coach Wes Moore said. “We had a lot of energy and everyone who played contributed.”
Alex Anderson led the scoring effort with 17 points, six rebounds and three steals. She sat on the bench for half of the opening stanza with a pair of fouls and opened the court for sophomore Ashley Huff who hit a career-high 13 points.
“Ashley did some good things and she can help this team,” Moore said. “She’s got a lot of athleticism and can run the floor and get boards. Hopefully she’ll continue to contribute with Shanara [Hollinquest] out.”
Huff went 6-of-12 from the floor and had an assist, two steals and a blocked shot for the Lady Mocs. Brooke Hand hit both of her first two 3-point attempts and was 3-for-6 on the night with 11 points.
Chattanooga’s (12-6, 5-2) first four points of the game were all on free throws. Junior Kristen Spann made her two to tie the game at 4-4. From there the Lady Mocs reeled off 16 unanswered points to grab a 20-4 lead at 10:02 before the Paladins would sink their second shot of the game. urman went 0-for-8 over the nine-minute span and committed eight of its 28 turnovers. The Lady Mocs held on to the double-digit lead and went into halftime with a 35-18 lead.
“Over the last seven years, we’ve made a living off that,” Moore said. “Offense isn’t going to be there every night. You’ve got to play some defense and attack the boards and we’ve kind of gotten away from that.”
In the second half, the Lady Mocs continued to build on the lead doubling up the Paladins 48-24 at the 12:01 mark. The closest Furman would get in the half was 30-25 just 32 seconds into the half.
Chattanooga outscored Furman 36-18 in the paint and scored 26 points off 28 Paladin turnovers. On the boards, the Lady Mocs held the advantage 35-26, giving up just seven offensive rebounds. Chattanooga’s bench contributed with 22 points led by Huff.
The Lady Paladins (6-12, 1-6) were led by Maggie McKemie’s 10 points and six boards. Melissa Liebschwager chipped in eight points while Katie Johnson scored six, all in the second half for Furman.
Furman returns home to host Western Carolina Saturday at Timmons Arena in a 1:30 Saturday afternoon matchup. The Lady Mocs will travel to College of Charleston to take on the Cougars at John Kresse Arena at 2 p.m. Saturday. Larry Ward will all the action live at WDOD-AM 1310 or online at the official website of Lady Mocs athletics, www.GoMocs.com.
Western Carolina 73, Georgia Southern 68
STATESBORO, Ga. ? Ashley Melson’s 13 points in the second half sparked a late Georgia Southern rally, but Western Carolina pulled ahead with seconds remaining to clinch a 73-68 Catamounts victory, Monday evening at Hanner Fieldhouse.
Western Carolina (11-7, 5-2 SoCon) extended its win streak to three games with the win, while Georgia Southern falls to 7-11 overall and 2-5 in league play, its fourth consecutive loss in two weeks.
Rallying from 15 points down, Melson’s (Newnan, Ga.) trifecta with 9:33 remaining started a 22-8 GSU scoring drive and the Lady Eagles trailed by just one, 64-63 with 3:38 remaining. Chequilla Jessie (Sanford, Fla.) hit the go-ahead jumper with one minute later, and GSU took its first lead since the Lady Eagles’ first bucket just 18 seconds into the contest.
In the next two WCU possessions, Brooke Johnson and Jessika Johnson hit all four free-throw attempts, and the Lady Catamounts regained the lead, 68-65 with 1:32 remaining.
After a 30-second GSU timeout, Tiffany Brown (Waxhaw, N.C.) pulled up to the three-point line and tied up the match - the fourth and final time of the contest - with the trifecta.
Ashley Pellom’s jumper pushed the Lady Catamounts ahead by two with 45 seconds remaining, but GSU’s late attempts to regain the lead fell short, and Western Carolina spent the remainder of the contest on the free throw line.
In the first stanza, the Lady Catamounts led by no more than six points until just a minute before the break when they hit all four foul shot attempts and went into the locker room with a 10-point, 37-27 lead.
Overall, Georgia Southern had the upper hand in free-throw percentage, hitting 13-of-16 (.813) from the line. But Western Carolina’s 19 points from the charity stripe on 79.2 percent shooting, including three successful foul shots in the final seconds sealed the victory.
Pacing the Lady Eagles was Brown as she scored 19 points on 6-of-11 shooting, including a pair of three-pointers, and a perfect 5-of-5 from the charity stripe. Jessie followed, matching her career-high 16 points shooting 5-of-9 from the field, including 6-of-8 from the charity stripe. Melson was one point shy of matching a season- and career-best, netting 15 points, 13 of which came in the second stanza. Concella Henry (Manning, S.C.) led all players with a season-best eight rebounds.
Twelve of the Lady Eagles 22 rally points in a six-minute span came off of buckets within the three-point arc, evidence of Georgia Southern’s improvement in their inside game. Focusing on working the ball down low, which produced 18 points in the paint, has also freed up GSU’s perimeter game, and the Lady Eagles hit 7-of-19 from behind the arc.
“Finally we’re starting to get that inside game enough that we can get some good looks from the basket at the perimeter,” said head coach Rusty Cram. “I thought we saw results from that tonight.”
Western Carolina was led by Ashley Pellom with 15 points, making 5-of-9 field goals and going 4-of-6 from the free-throw line. Following were Brooke Johnson with 13 points, Monique Dawson with 12 and Lauren Powell with 10.
The Lady Catamounts led in the rebounds category by a 44-32 margin, while the Lady Eagles made fewer mistakes, 16, compared to WCU’s 23.
The Lady Eagles return home to conclude a three-game homestand versus Appalachian State, Saturday, January 20. Tip-off is slated for 5 p.m.