Wofford 69, Southeastern Louisiana 68
HAMMOND, La. -- Junior Kate Dempsey hit a put-back with 3.1 seconds remaining and senior Kelsi Koenig returned to her home state recording her sixth career double-double, including second in three games this season, as the Wofford women's basketball team survived a late Southeastern Louisiana second half rally for a 69-68 victory Tuesday evening inside University Arena in Hammond, La.
Dempsey capped her career-best outing by retrieving the rebound off a missed free throw by teammate Liz Miller and using the glass for the put-back to give the Terriers their first road win of the season. The missed charity toss was Miller's first of the season, snapping a streak of 16 straight dating back to the Southern Conference Tournament game last March.
Dempsey scored 13 of her 15 points in the second half as Wofford (2-1) kept feeding her in the low post taking advantage of her height advantage against the smaller Lady Lions. Contributing to her efforts was a 22-5 edge on assists by the Terriers, including a career-high seven by junior Summer Nichols and a season-best six by Miller.
Koenig started the game on fire, registering 11 of the team's first 15 points, including her only 3-pointer of the contest. The Mandeville, La., native was playing in front of over 100 friends and family who came to witness the game and make the 29-mile trek down I-12. She did not disappoint, totaling a game-high 18 points and 10 rebounds for her sixth career double-double, along with two assists and one steal in 30 minutes before fouling out with 1:20 remaining.
Sophomore Natalie Gramblin came off the bench and also gave Wofford a spark, posting a career-best nine points, including a couple of second half 3-pointers, on her birthday. Freshman Mahagony Williams hauled in a career-high seven rebounds and sophomore Kelly Dwyer recorded all four of the Terriers' blocked shots, setting a new career best.
The game featured a back-and-forth affair throughout much of the opening 24 minutes, including a 34-34 deadlock at halftime. Kristy Carlin put Southeastern Louisiana (2-2) up two, 41-39, at the 16:30 mark of the second half before the Wofford defense clamped down and held the Lady Lions without a field goal until she scored again with 5:20 to play.
The Terriers used the 11:10 minute period to build a 13-point margin, on a 15-0 surge, on Gramblin's free throw at the 8:02 mark. However, the Lady Lions would climb back thanks to numerous fouls being called and using the free throw line to their advantage. Southeastern finished the game 33-of-46 from the line compared to a 10-of-23 outing for Wofford.
Following a Terrier technical with 2:18 to play, the Lady Lions' leading scorer entering the tilt, Brooke Necaise hit both free throws to bring them within two, 65-63. Koenig hit her final point of the evening on the line a short time later, but four more points at the charity stripe gave Southeastern its first lead, 67-66, with :56 seconds to play since Carlin's field goal at 16:30.
Necaise made 1-of-2 at the line with 18 seconds left to push the lead to two before Miller's free throw and Dempsey's put-back capped the thrilling victory.
Carlin paced the Lady Lions with 17 points, while Zevy Ivory had 13, Necaise finished with 12 and Bethany Sinclair added 11. Ten of Necaise's 12 points were via the foul line as Wofford limited her to 1-of-9 from the field, including 0-of-5 from behind the 3-point arc.
Jameica Gross grabbed a team-high eight boards, but the Terriers won the battle on the glass, 42-39.
Wofford will take a week off for the Thanksgiving holiday before returning to action in one week, Nov. 27, against Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va. It will mark the first of two games this season against Atlantic Coast Conference foes for the Terriers. They will also travel to Chapel Hill, N.C., for a Dec. 9 meeting against nationally-ranked North Carolina.
Georgia Southern 63, Jacksonville State 44
STATESBORO, Ga. ? The Georgia Southern women’s basketball team took advantage of a second half scoring surge to secure a 63-44 home-opening win versus Jacksonville State, Tuesday evening, in Hanner Fieldhouse.
With the non-conference victory, the Lady Eagles improve to 2-2 on the season, while Jacksonville State falls to 1-2 overall.
Pacing the team was senior guard Shawnda Atwood (Pensacola, Fla.) and junior guard Ashley Melson (Newnan, Ga.) combining for 27 points and 17 rebounds. Atwood scored a game-high 16 points, matching her season-high set a week ago at Georgia (Nov. 13). She pulled down six rebounds on the day. Melson followed with her first career a double-double performance, tallying 11 points and 11 rebounds.
The Gamecocks were led by Jolie Efezokhae with 10 points and 12 rebounds.
Jacksonville State put in the first bucket off the hands of Danielle Beneby just over two minutes into the game, before sophomore forward Jessica Geiger (Stone Mountain, Ga.) tied the game 2-2 with the team’s first bucket on a baseline jumper with 17:36 on the clock.
The lead changed three times before Geiger’s three-pointer put the Lady Eagles up for good at the 7:19 mark, giving GSU a 16-15 lead.
Georgia Southern led 27-19 at the half, shooting 11-of-33 from the field, compared to JSU’s 9-of-27 field goal performance. Geiger led the team with seven points while Efezokhae and Beneby dropped six, apiece.
The Lady Eagles came out strong after the break, going on an 8-0 run to push the lead to 31-19 a little over two minutes into the second half.
The Gamecocks were able to cut the deficit to six points with 9:40 remaining, 40-34.
But Atwood, who tallied 12 points in the second stanza, sparked a 19-1 GSU scoring run to give the Lady Eagles a 26-point lead ? their largest of the game ? with 4:14 on the clock. Atwood scored eight of her 16 points during the run.
The Gamecocks were able to only cut the margin down to 19 points as time expired and the Lady Eagles picked up their second win over Jacksonville State in six meetings.
Georgia Southern got a lot of help from its reserves as it held a 20-10 advantage over the Gamecocks in bench points. Georgia Southern also led JSU in rebounds, 51-35.
Junior guard Ashley Rivens (Charlotte, N.C.) tallied a team-best six assists on the evening, while sophomore guard Carolyn Whitney (Duluth,
Ga.) dished out five helpers.
GSU finished the game shooting 27-of-71 from the field, compared to JSU’s 18-of-54 field goal shooting.
Georgia Southern’s time at home is short as it travels to San Antonio, Texas to play in the UTSA Classic, Friday and Saturday, November 23 and 24. The Lady Eagles will first match up with Arkansas, Friday at 6 p.m. (ET), and will turn around the next day to face tournament host UTSA, Saturday at 5 p.m. (ET).
Chattanooga 70, East Tennessee State 69
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. -- Shanara Hollinquest sank a pair of free throws with four seconds to play in the game to lead the Lady Mocs to a 70-69 win over former Southern Conference rival East Tennessee State Tuesday night at the Memorial Center.
Hollinquest led Chattanooga (3-1) with a career-high 17 points shooting 70 percent from the floor on 7-of-10. However, she struggled at the free throw line. Before stepping up to the stripe with UTC trailing by a point, the sophomore forward was 1-for-4.
Chattanooga’s 11-point halftime lead disappeared in 1:36 at the start of the second half as the Lady Bucs (1-3) went on an 11-point run. Michelle DeVault hit back-to-back 3-pointers followed by a jumper from TaRonda Wiles to get ETSU within three to start the period. Sierra Evans capped it off with a trey to even it up 37-37.
After a layup from Alex Anderson, her first of the game, Evans sank another three to give the Lady Bucs the lead for the first time since midway through the first half. The two teams would lock in a struggle with the score tying six more times before the Laura Hall and Tagan Hatchett combined for a pair of 3-pointers to take a 53-47 lead with 10:48 to play.
East Tennessee would continue to pound away and neither team would get any further ahead than three points. Wiles sank the first of two free throws with 1:28 to play to tie the score at 68-69, then hit the next to put the Bucs up by one.
Both teams combined to miss three shots before Latisha Belcher committed her fifth foul of the game to put Hollinquest at the line. After taking a deep breath, she hit the first to tie the game for the 11th time then hit the next with 4.1 seconds on the clock. A last second try by Evans at half court failed and the Lady Mocs came away with the win.
Spann was the only other UTC player in double figures with 11 points and a game-high seven rebounds. Anderson had seven points and six boards. Laura Hall and Tagan Hatchett each tossed in nine points. Hall had three steals in the game and four assists. Jenaya Wade-Fray, playing a career-high 36 minutes, scored eight points and grabbed five rebounds.
ETSU outscored the Lady Mocs 43-33 in the second half shooting 59.3 percent from the floor and struggled from the free throw line as well, making just 7-of-13 in the latter period. Kelly Turman led four Bucs in double digit scoring with 21 points. DeVault had 17, Wiles scored 11 in the contest while Evan had 10. DeVault, Evans and Belcher each had six rebounds.
The last time the two teams met was in Maclellan Gym in the second round of the Southern Conference tournament. ETSU edged the Lady Mocs 55-50, ending Chattanooga’s SoCon tournament run at four.
The Lady Mocs will host Murray State, Delaware and Louisville this Friday and Saturday in the Panera Bread Challenge at the McKenzie Arena. The Cardinals and Fightin’ Blue Hens will square off at 5 p.m. followed by the Lady Mocs and the Racers at 7 p.m. The consolation game will start at 5 p.m. on Saturday followed immediately by the championships game. Tickets are available at the McKenzie Arena box office or online at the official website of Chattanooga athletics, www.GoMocs.com.
UNC Asheville 79, Furman 67
ASHEVILLE, N.C. - Ashton Barton scored 22 points and tied a school record with six three-pointers as UNC Asheville defeated Furman 79-67 Tuesday night at the Justice Center.
Asheville used a 16-0 run early in the first half to turn a 7-4 deficit into a 20-7 lead and would never trail again. Furman made a strong comeback at the end of the first half. With the Bulldogs leading 31-16 at the 4:32 mark, The Paladins went on a 15-2 run to cut the lead to two points at 33-31, and were within four points at the end of the half.
Asheville was led by Barton's 22 points, with three other players scoring in double digits.
Sophomore Kali Holtfreter led the Lady Paladins with 16 points, while sophomore Lee Stephens added 11 for Furman. Chrissy Phelps and Courtney Opie contributed seven rebounds each.
With the loss, Furman falls to 2-2 on the season, while UNC Asheville improves to 3-1. The Lady Paladins are on the road again this weekend with a trip to North Carolina to take on the Tarheels.
Gardner-Webb 67, Appalachian State 65
BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. ? With ten minutes remaining in the game, four Appalachian State players found themselves one call away from fouling out, as the Mountaineers fell 67-65 at Gardner-Webb on Tuesday night. Sophomore GiGi Thomas scored 14 points in the first half, and finished the game with 19 points, three rebounds and a pair of steals, as the Mountaineers move to 1-2 on the season.
Gardner-Webb opened with the first eight points of the game before freshman Frances Hernandez came off the bench to score 12 of ASU’s first 18 points as the team pulled even at a 23-23 with 5:32 left before the intermission. Hernandez played 25 minutes in the contest due to foul trouble but doubled her career total with 18 points against the Runnin’ Bulldogs. It was a homecoming of sorts for the guard, who hails from Forest City, N.C., just 16 miles west of Boiling Springs.
The Apps did not lead in the first half, but pulled even at 35-35 as Robin Colbert sank a free throw with four seconds remaining. Margaret Roundtree paced GWU with 12 points in the first but was held to just six points after the break. Colbert finished with nine points, four steals, three rebounds and a pair of assists.
Appalachian came out with an inspired start to the second half, as the visitors opened with the first six points of the stanza to take their first lead of the night. ASU would shoot 9-for-28 from the field in the second half and just 33.9 percent for the night. Gardner-Webb made 11-of-18 in the second half and shot 53.7 percent in the win.
Whitney Tossie was the first Mountaineer to foul out as she was whistled for a pair of fouls within 90 seconds with just over nine to play in regulation. The senior played just 21 minutes and left with six points, five rebounds and two steals.
The teams combined for 50 fouls in the game, as Thomas and Brittany Mixon each fouled out in the final 70 seconds of the game. Mixon led the team with seven boards in the game, and added five points and the team’s only block as well.
The Apps led 63-59 with five minutes remaining before GWU rattled off seven straight to take a 66-63 lead with just 20 ticks left on the clock. Hernandez connected on a layup to pull the team within one with eight seconds left. Roundtree made one of two free throws with five seconds left and missed a pair with three to play before Appalachian’s final possession. Sam Ramirez lofted a half-court shot that rimmed out just as time expired. Ramirez scored five points in 20 minutes off the bench.
The Mountaineers complete the two-game road trip at VCU on Sunday, November 25 at 2 p.m.