Davidson 68, Elon 49
ELON, N.C. Danielle Hemerka posted a game-high 16 points and a team-high seven rebounds, powering Davidson to a 68-49 Southern Conference women's basketball victory over Elon Tuesday night at Alumni Gym.
Hemerka canned eight of her 12 field goal attempts and tallied three assists and two steals as the Wildcats (15-3 overall, 6-1 SoCon) emerged victorious for the eighth consecutive time on the road and the 12th time in 13 games overall.
For the Phoenix (7-10, 2-5), the contest marked a third straight setback. Elon entered the game with a 6-1 record at Alumni Gym for the season, including a 2-0 mark in Southern Conference play.
Tia Washington (11 points, game-high five steals) and Mandy Halbersleben (11 points) joined Hemerka in double digits in the scoring department for the Wildcats. Katie Hamilton put up nine points and a game-high six assists, moving within five markers of the 1,000-point plateau for her career at Davidson.
Never trailing, the Wildcats sprinted to a 27-11 lead on a lay-up by Hemerka with 6:12 left in the first period. Via an 11-7 spurt, the Phoenix inched within 34-22 on a jumper by Katie Whidden with 17:42 remaining in the contest. Davidson pulled away with a 24-11 run, building a 58-33 cushion on a Kelly Gassie fast-break lay-up with 7:47 to play.
Rachel Hester (nine points), Whidden (eight points, two blocked shots) and Nikko King (seven points, game-high eight rebounds) led Elon. The Phoenix yielded 34 turnovers to 17 committed by the Wildcats.
Davidson edged Elon 33-32 off the glass and outscored the Phoenix 48-26 in the paint, 34-13 off turnovers and 11-10 off second chances. The Wildcats fired 46.2 percent (30 of 65) from the floor while the Phoenix hit 40.8 percent (20 of 49).
This coming Saturday, Elon will visit UNC Greensboro at 2 p.m. while Davidson will host Wofford at 7 p.m.
Wofford 69, Appalachian State 65
BOONE, N.C. ? Junior Maria Grimes (Birmingham, Ala.) scored a career-high 24 points to lead Appalachian State University women’s basketball, but it wasn't enough as Wofford edged the Mountaineers, 69-65, in Southern Conference action Tuesday at the Holmes Center.
With the Terriers in possession of a 63-62 lead and the basketball with 30 seconds left in the game, Jennifer Weurding sank a three-pointer from the top of the key to stretch the lead to four. Whitney Tossie's attempt at a three-pointer to respond was off target, and the Terriers converted 3-of-4 free throws in the final seconds to close out the game.
The Mountaineers’ extended their skid to four games with the loss and dropped to 8-10 overall and 2-5 in SoCon play. The Terriers, who entered the game tied for sixth in the league with ASU, improved to 9-8 on the season and 3-4 in the league.
Appalachian, which entered the game shooting 63.7 percent from the free throw line, shot a smoldering 90.5 percent from the charity stripe as it converted 19-of-21 attempts. Wofford forced 20 ASU turnovers and converted them into 19 points.
The game remained tight throughout with seven ties and 12 lead changes, while both teams reached their largest lead of the game at seven points.
Grimes finished the night perfect at the line shooting 7-of-7 from the charity stripe. Tossie (Oviedo, Fla.) finished the game with 16 points, five rebounds and two steals. Senior Jaime Bennett (Woodstock, Ga.) came two points shy of a double-double with eight points and 12 rebounds to lead the Mountaineers on the boards.
Sophomore Brittany Mixon (Altamonte Springs, Fla.) added a career-high seven rebounds and eight points.
Kelsi Koenig led Wofford with her third career double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Three other Terriers finished in double-digits as Liz Miller, K.C. Correll and Jennifer Weurding added 11, 11 and 10 points, respectively.
Wofford opened the game with an 11-4 run in the opening five minutes. But Appalachian countered as it outscored the visitors, 15-3 in the next eight minutes for a 19-14 lead with 7:50 to go in the first half. After four unanswered points by the Terriers, Mixon grabbed the offensive board and put it back to extend the Mountaineers’ lead back to three at 21-18 with five and a half to go in the period.
Miller pulled her team back within two off her first three-pointer of the night to make the score 23-21 with 4:19 to go in the half. But, the Mountaineers answered on the next possession as Whitney Randolph (Gainesville, Ga.) converted her lone three-pointer of the night for a 26-21 lead. A steal and layup by Grimes extended ASU’s lead to its largest of the night at seven at 28-21 with 3:18 to play in the opening half.
Wofford’s Miller hit her second-straight three-pointer to pull back within four before Grimes’ free throws extended ASU’s lead back to six at 30-24 at the 2:14 mark. Weurding added two layups for the Terriers and Grimes hit a jumper for the Mountaineers in the final two minutes of the half as ASU headed into halftime with a 32-28 lead.
Both teams opened the second half with points off of free throws as Grimes converted all five of her attempts and Kathlyn Varno and Miller combined to go 2-for-4 for Wofford as ASU jumped back out to a seven-point, 37-30, lead with just over 18 minutes to go in the game.
Two-straight Mountaineer fouls sparked an 8-0 run for the Terriers as they took their first lead of the second half at 38-37 with 14:19 left in the ballgame. Back-to-back-to-back buckets by Grimes, Bennett and Tossie gave the Mountaineers the lead back at 44-38 with 13:25 to play.
After a layup by Wofford’s Correll, Bennett pulled ASU back up by six with two free throws for a 46-40 advantage with 11 minutes remaining. The Mountaineers were able to maintain a steady lead until an 11-1 run by Wofford gave the visitors a four-point lead at 59-55 with 3:45 to go in the game.
A three-pointer by Grimes and two free throws by Shante Williams (Spartanburg, S.C) in the next 45 seconds gave ASU its lead back at 60-59 with two minutes to go in the contest. Appalachian committed costly fouls down the stretch as Wofford scored seven of its final 10 points at the charity stripe and went on to a 69-65 victory.
The Mountaineers hit the road as they head to Statesboro, Ga. and Davidson, N.C. to take on Georgia Southern on Saturday, January 20 at 5 p.m. and Davidson on Monday, January 22 at 7 p.m.