Western Carolina 85, Detroit 65
CULLOWHEE, N.C. ? Western Carolina women’s basketball scored 57 points in the second half and shot 48.8 percent in the final 20 minutes of the game to defeat Detroit 85-65 for the Lady Catamounts season-opening win Friday in the Ramsey Center. The game was knotted at 28 at the half. Western Carolina opens the 2007-08 season 1-0 and Detroit falls to 0-1.
After shooting 27.8 percent in the first half and connecting on just 10 field goals Western Carolina came out in the second half by scoring 10 consecutive points and built its biggest lead of the game. Junior Brooke Johnson got the scoring frenzy started in the second half after picking up a steal and got an offensive rebound and put back for the Lady Catamounts first two points of the second half at the 19:06 minute mark.
Western Carolina would hover around the double digit lead for most of the second half. It built its largest lead of the game when the Lady Catamounts led by 20 with 4:35 left to play thanks to a Johnson lay-up off a fast break and an assist by Ashley Pellom.
For the game, Western Carolina shot 39 percent from the field and hit just three 3-pointers for 37.5 percent. The Lady Catamounts also struggled at the free throw line connecting on 22-of-35 from the charity stripe for 62.9 percent.
Western Carolina also had 20 turnovers in the game but did force Detroit to commit 30. The club was balanced in the rebound department with 25 offensive boards and 24 defensive for 49.
Johnson was one of four Lady Catamounts in double figure scoring with 14 points. She also had one assist and two blocked shots.
Freshman Emily Clarke had 13 points while junior Kendra Eaton’s 11 points was the fourth time in her career she has recorded double figure points. Senior Chevon Keith tallied a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds.
Western Carolina travels to Clemson on Sunday to take on the Tigers. Tip-off is sent for 2 p.m.
NOTES:
SEASON-OPENER WIN: Head Coach Kellie Harper picked up her first season-opening win as the Head Coach of the Lady Catamounts. She is now 1-3 in opening games. It is the first season-opening win for WCU since 2003.
TYING WITH DETROIT: Western Carolina is tied 1-1 after its victory over the Titans.
SEASON-OPENER POINTS: The Catamount’s 85 points they scored against Detroit is the most WCU has scored in a season-opening game since the club scored 85 against Gardner-Webb in 2002.
DOUBLE-DOUBLE KEITH: Chevon Keith’s double-double is the 12th of her career ... She had 12 points and 12 rebounds against Detroit.
POWELL CLOSE TO THREE: Lauren Powell’s two three-pointers against Detroit currently ties the guard for third place for three-pointers made in a career. She currently has 121.
HEAD COACH KELLIE HARPER QUOTES:
About winning the first game of the season for the first time as WCU’s Head Coach:
“I walked into the locker room after the game and the seniors looked at me and said we won our first game coach. They realized that I read somewhere that I hadn’t won a season-opening game.”
What was the conversation at half time with the score tied at 28?:
“At half time I felt like our biggest hurdle was on the offensive end. Holding the defense to 28 points is a pretty good we just couldn’t make baskets. I felt like we weren’t finishing around the basket and we didn’t make our free throws. Those two things would have put more points on the scoreboard. We came out in the first half very tight, the tightest I have seen us. It looked like we had the weight of the world on our shoulders. We have been looking forward to this game for so long and the team has such high expectations and they were feeling that tonight.”
Every player on the team scored. Can you talk about that?:
“This team is very balanced. It is going to take a while for this coaching staff to figure out what works best rotation wise. We have weapons and we have kids that can score we just have to put them together in combinations that work. It is going to take a few games.”
Comment on Chevon Keith’s play tonight:
“Chevon should get a double double every night or at least come close to it. I did challenge our players at half time that Chevon can’t have all of our offensive boards. I was very proud of them and to see other people stepping up in the second half.”
Jacksonville 72, Georgia Southern 58
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. ? The Georgia Southern women’s basketball team rallied back from a 17 point first half deficit to close within seven points in the second, but Jacksonville held on for 72-58 non-conference match-up at Swisher Gymnasium, Friday night (Nov. 9).
The season opener for both teams, Georgia Southern falls to 1-0 on the season while Jacksonville picks up its first win.
Jacksonville had four players score in double digits while the Lady Eagles struggled from the field. Shawnda Atwood (Pensacola, Fla.) led the team with 14 points on 4-of-10 shooting. Jacksonville’s DaVina Hamilton went 8-of-11 from the field to lead all scorers with 19 points.
The Dolphins jumped out to an early 10-2 lead that was sparked by a bucket in the paint by Virginia Gregoire.
Strong Jacksonville shooting helped the home team produce its largest lead of the game, a 17-point, 29-12 advantage with 5:20 remaining in the first half.
Down 32-16 with 4:08 remaining, the Lady Eagles came back with a spurt sparked by a pair of Atwood free throws. A fast break layup, then a key rebound by Atwood helped close the deficit down to 11 points with 2:50 remaining.
The Dolphins led 37-23 at the break and were led by Courtney Jackson and DaVina Hamilton with 11 points, apiece. Jacksonville hit 14-of-26
(53.8%) from the field in the first half compared to GSU’s 8-of-25
(32.0%) field goals shooting. Georgia Southern had four Lady Eagles with four points in the first half.
Down by 17 with 14:35 remaining in the second stanza, the Lady Eagles rallied back and were able to cut the Jacksonville lead down to just seven points with 7:21 on the clock, capped by a pair of jumpers by Jessica Geiger (Stone Mountain, Ga.) and J’Lisia Ogburn (Dublin, Ga.).
The Dolphins were able to counter GSU’s momentum and held on for the victory.
The Lady Eagles were without the help of seniors Tiffany Brown and Christa Waterman. Both are out for the first six games of the season.
Georgia Southern will look to bounce back as the Lady Eagles square off with Stetson, Sunday (Nov. 11) as the Lady Eagles play its second of a three-game road trip.
Penn 56, Elon 54
ELON, N.C. - Carrie Biemer sealed Elon's fate Friday night, laying in a bucket with five seconds remaining to break a 54-54 deadlock and give Penn a 56-54 victory in a thrilling finish in game two of the ISES Cancer Awareness Tip-Off in Alumni Gym.
The Phoenix falls to 0-1 on the young season, while Penn improves to 1-0.
Kitara McMoore sank two free throws at the 17-second mark to tie the game for the Phoenix, but a mismatch on defense under the Quaker basket allowed Biemer the chance to win the game for Penn.
"We didn't get our defense down the court fast enough," said head coach Brenda Paul. "We had a 5-8 guard trying to defend someone over six feet tall and it just didn't work."
What did work, however, was the adjustment the Phoenix made on defense for the second half. After giving up 13-of-27 (48.1%) field goals, including five from three-point range in the first half, Elon held Penn to just 36.4% (8-of-22) field goal shooting and two made baskets from beyond the arc coming out of the locker room.
"We've been practicing our man-to-man defense and they forced us to play zone - which we weren't prepared for," added Paul. "We had to make that change and get comfortable with the style of defense we needed to play to try to win this ballgame."
Tierra Bumbrey grabbed career-high six steals for Elon, scoring six of her team-leading 14 points on fastbreaks from steals in the second half. Bumbrey was 6-of-17 with two treys. Nicole Allison added 10 points for the Phoenix as did McMoore whose seven rebounds and six free throws led the squad.
Biemer finished with a game-high 28 points, including 10-of-22 field goal shooting, while Maggie Burgess grabbed eight boards.
Penn will take on William & Mary at 5 p.m. tomorrow, while Elon will face Campbell tomorrow night in the 7 p.m. game of the tournament.
Chattanooga 64, Austin Peay 50
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. ? Chattanooga Senior Alex Anderson exploded for 20 points in the second half to lead the Lady Mocs to a 64-50 win over Austin Peay in the season opener for both teams at the Dave Aaron Arena Friday night.
Anderson had a double-double with a game-high 26 points, and 15 rebounds. She notched five blocked shots on the night as the Lady Mocs start the year 1-0.
In the opening stanza, the Lady Mocs struggled to control the ball with 13 turnovers, most on traveling calls. Chattanooga’s six-point first half lead at the 11:16 mark quickly dissipated and Austin Peay held a slim 22-20 lead at the break.
Austin Peay (0-1) extended its lead to six points three minutes into the second half, its largest of the game. But the Lady Mocs would start to chip away at that lead and eventually tie it up three times before pulling away. After Anderson tied the score for the final time on a jumper, Jenaya Wade-Fray drained three straight shots from beyond the arc and the Lady Mocs led 48-41 with 9:49 to play in the game.
The Lady Govs would get it back to within a pair over the next three minutes, but the Chattanooga offense started clicking along with its defense and Anderson gave UTC its first double-digit lead of the game with 2:56 remaining at 58-48.
Wade-Fray had 13 points for Chattanooga, six rebounds and three assists. Brooke Hand had nine points on a trio of 3-pointers while Shanara Hollinquest who was in foul trouble early, had seven points and six boards.
Ashley Herring led three Lady Govs with 15 points and three assists. Alex Bivens sank three 3-pointers and had 11 points while Ashlee McGee had 10 points and four rebounds. Nicole Jamen had Kellea Reeves had a team-high five boards apiece and combined for eight points.
After shooting a dismal 34.8 percent in the first half, Chattanooga rebounded to go 17-of-32 in the second for a blistering 53.1 shooting percentage. UTC was 7-for-21 from beyond the arc and 7-for-11 from the charity stripe. The Lady Govs shot 29.8 percent for the game, were outrebounded by UTC 40-32, but were a perfect 8-for-8, all in the second half, from the free throw line.
Chattanooga will hit the road Sunday for a 3:00 p.m. matchup against the defending national champions Tennessee at Thompson-Boling Arena. The game will be televised live by SportSouth. Listen live on the radio at flagship station of the Chattanooga women’s basketball team, WDOD-AM 1310 or online at the official website of Lady Mocs athletics, www.GoMocs.com. Larry Ward will have all the action live.
Georgia Tech 69, Davidson 50
Story to follow.