Wake Forest 55, Western Carolina 52
CULLOWHEE, N.C. ? Western Carolina women’s basketball (5-2) dropped its second game of the season, falling 55-52, to Wake Forest (9-1) Saturday in the Ramsey Center. The Lady Catamounts were held to a season-low in scoring, and were without the services of senior guard Monique Dawson who missed the game due to the death of her grandfather earlier in the week.
Down by three with six seconds remaining, senior Ashley Pellom took the ball down the court after Wake Forest’s Corinne Groves hit a pair of free throws. Pellom went to the right side and looked to pass the ball to Chevon Keith, but it was wide and went out of bounds as time expired.
It is the second time this season the Lady Cats have lost by just three points. Western Carolina lost at Minnesota 70-67 earlier in the season. It also snaps the club’s three-game winning streak and five-game winning streak at home.
Western Carolina suffered through a sluggish first half shooting just 25.9 percent from the field and did not connect on a three-pointer. Wake Forest led by as much as 12 in the first half and the Lady Catamounts cut the lead down to seven thanks to a pair of Pellom free throws but the Demon Deacon’s Courtney Morris hit a jumper to give Wake Forest a 29-20 led going into the locker room.
The Lady Catamounts came out in the second half inspired thanks to the return of Keith who saw limited minutes in the first half thanks to two fouls. Western Carolina went on a 13-5 run in the first eight minutes to pull within one point (34-33) of Wake Forest. With 8:16 remaining junior Brooke Johnson drained one of just two three-pointers the Lady Cats hit all game to tie the contest at 42. Johnson connected on a jumper two minutes later, which would be her only two buckets in the game, to give WCU a 44-42 lead.
In the final four minutes the game was tied twice and Western Carolina led by one twice. Wake Forest’s Camille Collier drained a three-pointer with 2:02 remaining and the Demon Deacon’s never trailed in the game again.
For the first time this season, Western Carolina had just one player score in double figures as Pellom led all scorers with 16 points. Pellom also tallied the first double-double of her career as she also pulled down a career-high 11 rebounds. Though Johnson was held to a season-low five points she did dish out a career-high four assists in the contest.
Western Carolina travels to Honolulu, Hi. to participate in the Paradise Classic next week. The Lady Cats play host Hawaii on December 14, Oregon State on December 15 and Tennessee Tech on November 17.
THIS AND THAT NOTES: Sophomore guard Heather Swayne got the first start of her career ... Brooke Johnson was held to single digit scoring for just the second time this season ... Kendra Eaton notched her first block of the season ... The loss to Wake Forest gives WCU a record of 1-1 against ACC opponents this season, after the win over Clemson.
HEAD COACH KELLIE HARPER QUOTES:
“For whatever reason we aren’t doing a good job of rebounding and keeping opponents off the boards and I am disappointed we haven’t made that commitment to pound the boards. We practice and work on it everyday but we have to step up and really focus on getting better at defensive rebounds.”
What were the differences in the second half?
“I felt like in the first half we were getting good shots and just couldn’t score. We were rushing them and I don’t know if it was their size or if we were hurrying or just not focusing. The second half we came out and made better shots. Looking at the stat sheets obviously the rebounding was an issue for us but we also didn’t get to the free throw line like we normally do and that is where we get a lot of our points. We only went to the line 11 times tonight and that really hurt us.”
No. 7 Georgia 79, Davidson 65
ATHENS, Ga. - Sophomore Julia Paquette (Stockbridge, Ga.) scored a team-best
14 points in her return trip back to her home state and three other Wildcats hit double figures, but No. 7 Georgia countered with six players who scored in double digits as the Davidson women's basketball team dropped a 79-65 decision on Sunday afternoon in Stegeman Coliseum.
The Wildcats saw their three-game winning streak come to an end as they fell to 5-3, while Georgia won its ninth straight to open the season and improved to 9-0.
Paquette finished 6-of-9 from the field, while adding two free throws and hauled in five boards, one of four 'Cats who pulled down five or more rebounds. It was her fourth double-figure scoring game of the season.
The senior duo of Danielle Hemerka (Blackwood, N.J.) and Honna Housley (Mt. Juliet, Tenn.) netted 12 and 13 points, respectively.
Junior Kelly Gassie (Mt. Juliet, Tenn.) had a solid game off the bench with a season-high 13 points in 33 minutes of action, while matching her career-best by draining two shots from behind the arc.
Georgia was paced offensively by Angel Robinson with 17 points, hitting for 10 of those in the first half. The Lady Bulldogs' four other starters each hit for double digits with three of them going for 10 points. Three-time All-America Tasha Humphrey registered yet another double-double with 10 points and 10 boards for her six straight double-double.
Like last year's battle with the Lady Bulldogs, Davidson was up for the challenge. After falling behind 10-2 to start the contest, the Wildcats quickly found their stroke, particularly from behind the three-point line. They used five three-balls in the first 12 minutes of action to grab a 23-20 lead at the 7:20 mark. The trio of Hemerka, Gassie and freshman Kelsey Cary (San Aselmo, Calif.) capped off the hot shooting from behind the arc with back-to-back-to-back threes for the three-point advantage.
The Wildcats hot shooting unfortunately came to a halt shortly there-after as they missed their next eight tries from three-land and were held without a field goal until a jumper in the paint by Hemerka with 1:53 to go in the half.
Davidson would add only one more three-pointer the rest of the game as it finished 6-for-24 from behind the arc.
Meanwhile, Georgia's Robinson kept the Lady Bulldogs close with eight points in a three-minute stretch and closed out the half with 10 points.
The rest of her teammates then chipped in, turning a three-point deficit into a ten-point advantage, 33-23, by going on a 13-0 run and finished out the first half with a 37-25 lead on a buzzer beating lay-in by Ashley Houts. Houts, who scored only two points in last season's meeting, had nine in the first period and ended the game with 13 points to go along with seven rebounds and seven assists.
Davidson did all it could to hang with the taller Bulldogs in the second half, hitting 53.8 percent of their field goals (14-26), while holding Georgia to 38.5 percent. The Wildcats were only out-scored by two points in second stanza, 42-40.
Housley and Paquette opened the new period with back to back buckets to cut the deficit to eight points (37-29) forcing a Georgia Bulldog timeout.
Georgia then regrouped and pushed the lead out to as many as 21 points throughout the second half. The closest Davidson would get again was the final score of 79-65.
The Bulldogs used their height to their advantage, winning the rebounding margin, 54-32, and getting 23 of those boards on the offensive glass.
Davidson returns home for a non-conference tilt against Big South opponent High Point on Saturday, Dec. 15 at 7 p.m. The Wildcats snapped a three-game losing streak to the Panthers last year with an 82-63 win.
Georgia Tech 78, Georgia Southern 50
ATLANTA ? Senior guard Shawnda Atwood paced Georgia Southern with 10 points, but Georgia Tech ran away with a 44-point second half to claim a 78-50, Yellow Jackets win, Sunday afternoon (Dec. 9), at Alexander Memorial Coliseum.
Georgia Southern falls to 3-6 overall with the loss, while Georgia Tech improves its record to 7-1 on the season.
Atwood (Pensacola, Fla.) led GSU with 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting from the field. She was followed by Chequilla Jessie (Sanford, Fla.) with nine points and four rebounds, while Carolyn Whitney (Duluth, Ga.) dished out a game-high six assists.
Four Yellow Jackets scored in double-figures, including Chioma Nnamaka with a game-high 20 points on 8-of-16 shooting.
Georgia Southern opened up the game with its first nine points coming from three-point land. Tiffany Brown (Waxhaw, N.C.), Jessica Geiger (Stone Mountain, Ga.) and Whitney each chipped in with the three-ball.
The momentum changed several times in the first half with three ties and six lead-changes.
Georgia Southern’s largest lead came at the 14:29 mark after Geiger capped an 8-1 run by putting the Lady Eagles up 14-9.
“I thought we played well the first 10 to 13 minutes of the first half,”
said head coach Rusty Cram. “We felt like we were executing the game plan very well and holding them at bay. I think we really took them by surprise and our kids were really focused.”
The Yellow Jackets regained the lead, 15-14, with 12:48 on the clock, and although GSU knotted the score at 17 with 9:18 remaining in the first half, the Lady Eagles couldn’t regain the lead for the remainder of the contest.
Georgia Tech led 34-23 at the break, its largest lead of the half, and was paced by Nnamaka Chioma with 13 points. Brown led the Lady Eagles with eight points on 3-of-9 shooting, including a pair of triples. GSU shot 8-of-23 (34.8%) from the field compared to GT’s 14-of-34 (41.2%).
In second-half action, Georgia Southern was able to cut the lead down to just eight points after a pair of free throws by Whitney. But turnovers continued to plague the Lady Eagles while Georgia Tech improved their second half shooting to 55.6 percent (15-of-27) from the field and the Yellow Jackets slowly produced a 31-point lead before the final buzzer sounded. GT outscored GSU 44-27 in the second stanza.
Although Georgia Southern turned the ball over 23 times, the Lady Eagles defense forced 20 Georgia Tech mishaps and converted them into 11 points. But GT scored 16 points off of GSU’s blunders.
“I feel like they didn’t stop our offense,” said Cram. “We stopped ourselves by missing shots and turning the ball over, and they were unforced turnovers, which is a big difference. I didn’t feel like their defense stopped us.”
The Yellow Jackets claimed a 47-30 advantage in the rebounds category and scored 32 points in the paint, compared to GSU’s 14 points.
“We’ve had the best week of practice all year,” said Cram. “This was a chance for us to go out there and line it up and play hard and smart.
We’ve got to get longer minutes of our focus, because that’s where we let down. But as far as our intensity goes, we were proud of them for the way they worked hard.”
Georgia Southern finished the game shooting 18-of-53 (34.0%) from the field, while Georgia Tech made 29-of-61 (47.5%) field goal attempts.
Georgia Southern will return home to Hanner Fieldhouse to host its second Southern Conference game of the season, entertaining Appalachian State, Sunday, December 16 at 3 p.m.
No. 5 North Carolina 102, Wofford 42
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. ? A quick start propelled No. 5 North Carolina to a 102-42 victory over Wofford Sunday afternoon in women’s basketball action inside Carmichael Auditorium in Chapel Hill, N.C.
Junior Kate Dempsey put the Terriers on the board at 19:08, but it would be their only points until the 8:20 mark when Dempsey scored again. North Carolina (10-1), meanwhile, rattled off 36 points, including a 32-0 run, covering that timeframe for a 36-4 lead. Cetera DeGraffenreid hit 5-of-6 free throws and added a layup for seven points, while Rashanda McCants chipped in nine and Rebecca Gray tallied eight. Seven different Tar Heels scored during the spurt.
UNC continued to add to its advantage quickly. Italee Lucas hit a corner 3-pointer and a running layup, while Iman McFarland and DeGraffenreid also added buckets to give the Heels a 48-9 lead at the under four-minute timeout of the first half.
Wofford (3-4) received a late first half spark from bench players. Freshman Mahagony Williams connected on two of her three free throws and added a basket underneath, while sophomore Kristin Bradley hit on her only field goal attempt, a 3-pointer, with 3:00 minutes to play. North Carolina closed the half by scoring its final four points from the charity stripe for a 55-18 halftime lead. Junior Laura Depko registered a reverse layup for the Terriers’ final points of the stanza with just over a minute remaining.
Junior Summer Nichols gave Wofford a lift to begin the second half as she scored the team’s first six points, while sophomore Kathlyn Varno registered a pair of steals and displayed hustle after loose balls to open the frame.
The Tar Heels’ post players then took control, as All-American Erlana Larkins scored three straight and Jessica Breland added a pair plus an and-one for 11-straight points between them for a 71-26 lead. DeGraffenreid then contributed five consecutive tallies, including an old-fashioned three-point play, while sophomore Natalie Gramblin put in back-to-back buckets for the Terriers as UNC built its lead to 89-34 with 7:14 showing on the clock.
Sophomore Kelly Dwyer scored her first points of the afternoon on a 10-foot jumper off an in-bounds play and freshman Ashley Kroker added a triple at 4:40 to match the Tar Heels’ effort over the last two-and-a-half minutes, making the score 93-39 with 3:47 to play.
Wofford played underclassmen much of the second half, as did North Carolina after substituting for the starters.
Gramblin led the Terriers with seven points, while Dempsey, Nichols and Depko added six apiece. Williams hauled in a team-high seven boards, including six on the offensive glass.
DeGraffenreid paced the Tar Heels with a game-high 17 points, as she was one of five players to reach double figures. Gray finished with 12, while McCants added 11 and Lucas and Larkins contributed 10 each.
Breland led all players with 13 boards, but Wofford won the turnover battle, 31-29.
The Terriers will return to action at 6 p.m. Saturday when they resume Southern Conference play against UNC Greensboro inside the Benjamin Johnson Arena in Spartanburg, S.C.