College of Charleston 81, Appalachian State 49
CHARLESTON, S.C. - Jill Furstenburg scored a career-high 22 points, while Brooke Kotcella added a career-high 20 to lead the College of Charleston to the 81-49 win over the Appalachian State Mountaineers in women’s basketball action in front of 319 fans tonight at the John Kresse Arena.
The Cougars win their second straight and improve to 3-5 overall and 1-0 in the Southern Conference. Appalachian State falls to 1-6 and 0-1 in league play. The win marked the third straight year the Cougars have won the SoCon opener.
Appalachian State opened the first half with a three-pointer by Whitney Tossie to take the early 3-0 lead with 19:31 to go. Charleston scored the next nine points to take the 9-3 lead with 17:28 to go. Appalachian cut the deficit to three, 13-10 with 13:51 remaining in the half before the Cougars exploded on offense, as the team went on a 23-5 run to take the 36-15 lead with 5:33before intermission. Charleston held the lead to over 20 points and went into the locker room with the 25-point 47-22 advantage.
For the half the Cougars shot 57.6 percent and held the Mountaineers to just 19.4, using a 28-17 advantage in rebounds, including a 20-7 edge in defensive boards. Turnovers were fairly even with the Cougars holding the slight 12-11 edge.
Charleston did not let up in the second half, never letting the Mountaineers get closer than 21 points. Charleston led by 21, 54-33, with 13:17 to go before the Cougars went on a 12-0 run to put the game away and led by 33 points, 66-33, with 10:34 remaining. The Cougars finished with the 32-point, 81-49 win.
Charleston shot 30.8 percent in the second half to finish the game with a 45.8 field goal percentage. Appalachian State shot 25.0 percent for the game after a 32.1 performance in the final 20 minutes. Charleston was a season-high 23-for-29 from the free-throw line, while ASU was 14-for-20. The Cougars held the 51-34 advantage in rebounds, and the 27-23 edge in turnovers.
Following Furstenburg and Kotcella was Nikki Williams, who posted 10 points and a team-leading 11 rebounds for her second career double-double. Sarah Moye also had double-digit rebounds with 10 on the night. Sam Ramirez led Appalachian State with 16 points. Brittany Mixon and Brittney Spencer led in rebounds with five apiece.
The Cougars travel to S.C. State Monday, Dec. 17th in their next contest. The Mountaineers are at Georgia Southern Sunday, the 16th in a 3:00 p.m. tip-off.
Western Carolina 69, Hawaii 60
HONOLULU, Hi. ? Senior Monique Dawson tied her season-high with 17 points as the
Western Carolina women’s basketball team (6-2) defeated host Hawaii (3-4) 69-60 in
the first game of the Paradise Classic Friday in the Stan Sheriff Center.
The Lady Catamounts again took advantage of their trips to the free throw line to
help them secure the win. Western Carolina went to the charity strip 26 times and
connected on 18 free throws hitting 69.2 percent for the game. In the first half
alone, WCU was 11-of-14.
Western Carolina led by six, 34-28, at the half but a 15-8 run by Hawaii in the
first eight minutes of the second half gave the Rainbow Wahine their first lead,
43-42, since they lead 19-18 with 8:12 to go in the first 20 minutes. The Lady Cats
reclaimed the lead two minutes later thanks to a jumper by Chevon Keith.
The Rainbow Wahine battled back and tied the game at 46 with 7:57 remaining. A
three-point play by Lauren Powell in which she connected on a jumper and was fouled,
hitting the free throw, gave WCU the lead again and the Lady Cats never relinquished
it again. Up by seven points with 2:33 remaining, junior Brooke Johnson gave Western
Carolina its largest lead of the game, 10, when she hit a three pointer from the
left wing to make the score 63-53. Hawaii did cut the lead to six points twice in
the final two minutes but Western Carolina was 6-of-8 from the free throw line to
keep the Rainbow Wahine at bay.
Western Carolina shot just 35.3 percent from the field and 12.5 percent from the
three point line in the game. The Lady Cats were out-rebounded by one, 43-42, but
did get 25 defensive rebounds.
Johnson was the only other Lady Catamount in double figures with 13 points and also
pulled down six rebounds. She also had three blocks in the game and now moves into
fourth place in the WCU record books for blocks in a career with 71.
Western Carolina returns to action at the Paradise Classic at 11 a.m. Saturday here
in Hawaii, 4 p.m. central time, taking on Oregon State.
THIS AND THAT NOTES: Sophomore Heather Swayne tallied a career-high two blocks ...
Ashley Pellom also had a career-high two blocks ... Western Carolina is now 2-0
after a loss ... The win over Hawaii gives WCU a 1-0 advantage ... The Lady
Catamounts are 4-1 in their last five games.
HEAD COACH KELLIE HARPER QUOTES:
“We didn’t have a lot of energy tonight but we found a way to win the basketball
game against a very tough team. I felt like we made the big shots when we needed
them. They would make a run and then we would come back down and make a bit shot ?
I thought that was very important in our success tonight. We like the up tempo game
and I thought Hawaii did a good job of keeping up with the pace.”
“Monique Dawson knocking down a couple of three-pointers was very important. She
played a pretty good basketball game. She attacked and she was aggressive. She is
looking to get in the paint and that is what we need from her.”
“Brooke Johnson has consistently scored for us in the paint and on the perimeter
all season. She is a threat when she steps on the court.”