Wofford 51, North Florida 42

 

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. ? Wofford pulled away down the stretch to defeat host North Florida to capture the 2007 UNF Holiday Classic championship, 51-42, Wednesday evening inside the UNF Arena in Jacksonville, Fla.

 

The Terriers received their second strong start by junior guard Liz Miller. She hit her first three shots for the second-straight game, although only one was a 3-pointer in tonight’s contest, to help Wofford (6-4) build a 14-3 edge with just over eight minutes played.

 

North Florida then turned up its defensive intensity and forced the Terriers into bad shots and poor ball handling as it rattled off six-straight points to bring the deficit to five, 14-9, with seven-and-a-half minutes to play before halftime.

 

The Lady Ospreys would add one more basket before sophomore Kathlyn Varno converted a reverse layup at 6:53 to halt the momentum. However, UNF continued to push on both ends of the floor and battled back to knot the score at 18-18 on a Shennette Sheffield jumper at 4:13. Miller nailed another trey with 3:41 remaining to put the Terriers back on top, but the next four points for the Lady Ospreys came via the charity stripe as they claimed their first lead.

 

Juliemay Syquio hit a twisting layup to give North Florida (4-6) a 24-21 edge with just over a minute to play in the half. Both teams tallied a pair of free throws, with sophomore Natalie Gramblin hitting Wofford’s set with 1.3 seconds left, for the halftime score of 26-23 in favor of the hosts.         

 

Sophomore Kelly Dwyer, playing in front of friends and family upon returning to her homestate, drained a corner trey at 13:32 and added another less than 30 seconds later to bring the Terriers back into the lead, 33-28.

 

Both teams traded field goals and a couple foul shots before junior Kate Dempsey hit a jumper near the top of the key to give Wofford a six-point advantage, 39-33, with 9:12 remaining. UNF would slice into the lead once again, bringing in the gap to two, 39-37, but a pair of Varno charity tosses and another jumper by Dempsey pushed the edge back to six.

 

Syquio led yet another North Florida attempted comeback as she hit a jumper at 1:31 to bring the score to 45-42, but Miller and Williams helped Terriers ice the triumph with six straight free throws for the final nine-point victory.

 

Miller finished with game-high scoring honors for the second-straight game, as she posted 14 points. It marks her third-straight double-digit scoring effort. Dwyer finished with 11 on the strength of three triples, while Williams was the team’s top rebounder with seven.

 

Jennifer Guldager led the Lady Ospreys with 11 points and nine rebounds, finishing just shy of a double-double. Syquio added nine points for UNF.

 

The two teams will connect again in their next game, however, this time it will be a contest played inside the Benjamin Johnson Arena in Spartanburg, S.C. The game is set to tip at 3 p.m. December 29.

 

 

Appalachian State 87, Central Florida 81

 

ORLANDO, Fla. - Whitney Tossie scored 11 in the first half and battled foul trouble to score 23 in the game and become the 18th Mountaineer to reach the milestone as the Appalachian State women's basketball team defeated Central Florida 87-81. Tossie now has 1,004 for her career and added three steals and four rebounds in the contest.

The three Florida natives got on the board early for the Mountaineers (2-7, 0-2 SoCon), as Tossie knocked down an early free throw to give the team a 3-2 lead before GiGi Thomas dropped in her first shot of the evening. Brittany Mixon then scored from the floor to give ASU an early 7-5 lead.

UCF led by as many as seven points early on, but a Frances Hernandez scored eight straight to key a 9-0 ASU run to take a 27-26 lead with six to play in the first. Robin Colbert added four points in the run. Colbert ended the night as one of five Mountaineers in double-figure points with 12.

UCF came back to lead 31-30, but Appalachian ended the half on a 6-0 run to stretch the lead to 42-35 at the intermission. The Mountaineers connected on an impressive 62.1 percent (18-for-29) of shots from the field in the opening period. The defense stepped up to hold the Golden Knights to a 35.5 percent in the first.

ASU extended the lead to 10 points early in the second, with a 7-4 run over the first four minutes. Whitney Tossie reached 16 points with 13 minutes remaining, but quickly picked up her fourth foul and was relegated to the bench. She re-entered the game with 3:51 to play and scored five more points to help the Mountaineers hold off UCF for the win.

Thomas also found foul trouble, picking up her fourth with 12:33 left to play. Hernandez committed three fouls within a minute to end her night. The freshman fouled out with 10 points, including a pair of three-pointers.

Courtney Cunningham helped the team on the boards, with 10 of the team's 40. ASU was an even 50 percent from the floor on 32-of-64 shooting.

The win gives Appalachian a 3-1 lead in the all-time series with its second consecutive win against the Golden Knights. The win was also the first away from the Holmes Center for the Apps and snapped a six-game skid.

In the early tournament game, La Salle defeated UNC Greensboro 63-47.

The Mountaineers close out the tournament on Thursday against La Salle at 5 p.m. The game can be heard on 90.5 WASU and online at WASURocks.com.

 

 

LaSalle 63, UNC Greensboro 47

 

ORLANDO, Fla. ? The UNC Greensboro women’s basketball team dropped its opener in the Central Florida Holiday Classic, 63-47, to LaSalle at UCF Arena on Wednesday night.

 

UNCG (1-9) had two players in double figures and was led by Kemena Brooks who had 13 points on 3-of-11 shooting from the floor. The Accokeek, MD native was also perfect from the free throw line going 4-for-4 from the charity stripe. Gini Grimsley was also in double-figures with the 11 points for the Spartans on 4-of-9 shooting from the field. Brooks and Grimsley both shot 50.0 percent from behind the arc. Ashley Mullins set a new career high with nine points on 3-of-7 shooting from the floor while Jasmine Dixon tied a career high with three steals.

 

“The game was won at the free throw line,” said head coach Lynne Agee. “We put them on the line 21 times and they were 18-of-21 and that was the game. We are a young team and are asking people to get used to new roles and with each game we are getting better. It’s a learning process and we do something better each time we step on the court and tonight was another step in our team’s development”

 

LaSalle (4-6) had three players in double figures and was led by Jamie Walsh who recorded a game-high 20 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the floor. Morgan Robertson tallied a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds while Margaret Elderton also added 10 points. Melanie Gibbons also had 10 rebounds in the win.

 

The Explorers opened the second half with a 10-6 run to take a 40-30 lead with only five minutes gone in the second stanza. LaSalle extended their lead to 45-32 behind the hot hand of Jamie Walsh who tallied eight points in the first nine minutes of the half after recording just five points in the first half.

 

UNCG got a spark off the bench from Sharniece Wadelington who recorded a key defensive stop and picked up a bucket midway through the half and allowed the Spartans to get back into the game with a 9-0 run to cut but the lead to 45-39 but the Explorers answered with free throws and a bucket from Elderton to keep the lead at eight points.

 

The teams traded buckets on the next several possessions and UNCG got the lead into single digits late in the game with a three-pointer from Brooks but several turnovers and missed shots down the stretch gave the Spartans their third consecutive loss.

 

In the first half UNCG connected on their first two three-pointers from Grimsley and Brooks and kept the LaSalle lead to 6-8 at the first media timeout. After the break,  the Spartans got active on the defensive end and forced two crucial turnovers to take a 10-8 lead before buckets from Brittany Frazier and Grimsley gave UNCG a 15-10 lead.

 

With an 18-17 lead at the 7:28 mark, LaSalle used a 4-0 run to pull ahead 24-18 but two big three-pointers from Grimsley and Mullins got the Spartans right back in the game and cut the lead to 26-24 with just over three minutes remaining. The Spartans couldn’t find much offense late in the half and went into the break trailing 30-24.

 

UNCG shot 50.0 percent from behind the arc and won the battle of the boards by a 22-19 margin in the first stanza although the Explorers forced the Spartans into 12 first half turnovers.

 

The Spartans conclude action at the Central Florida Holiday Classic on Thursday when they face host, Central Florida. Tip off is set for 7:30 pm at UCF Arena.

 

 

Wake Forest 70, College of Charleston 39

 

Winston-Salem, N.C. - The Cougars shot a season-low 26.7 percent from the field to fall to the Wake Forest Demon Deacons, 70-39, in women's basketball action in front of 4,207 fans at the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Winston-Salem N.C.

 

Charleston drops to 4-6, while Wake Forest improves to 10-2 on the year.  It was Middle School Day at the Coliseum.  Of the 4,207 fans in attendance, a majority of them were middle school children from around the Winston-Salem area.

 

Wake Forest came out of the gates firing, jumping out to a 17-0 lead.  Tonia Gerty gave the Cougars the first basket of the game when she nailed a three-pointer at the 13:17 mark.  Charleston wouldn't score again until 7:27 to go in the half.  An Ericka Williams' three-pointer gave the Cougars six points as they trailed 29-6.  Charleston went on a small 9-2 run to cut the deficit to 18, 35-17, with 2:25 before intermission.  WFU answered with four unanswered points to go into the locker room leading by 22, 39-17.

 

The Cougars shot just 24.1 percent in the first half compared to 51.5 for the Demon Deacons.

 

The second half saw the Cougars cut the margin to 18 again and trailed 44-26 with 13 minutes remaining.  Wake responded with a 20-1 run over the next six-and-a-half minutes to take its largest lead of the game, 64-27 with 6:22 to go, and help seal the eventual 31-point, 70-39, win

 

The shooting woes continued as Charleston shot 29.0 percent in the second half for a season-low 26.7 percentage in the game.  Wake ended with 44.6 on the morning.  WFU out-rebounded CofC, 46-39 and was six-for-13 from beyond the three-point arc, compared to four-for-19 for the Cougars.  CofC held the turnover edge, 20-14.

 

Leading Charleston was Sarah Moye with 11 points.  Jill Furstenburg, Megan King and Deidra Jones followed with five apiece.  Moye also paced the team with eight rebounds.  Corinne Groves led Wake Forest with 14 points, followed closely behind by Christen Brown with her 13.  Groves and Alex Tchangoue pulled down seven rebounds each to lead as well.

 

The Cougars take off for Christmas and will resume action Dec, 31st when they travel to Charleston Southern for a 3:00 p.m. game.  Wake Forest hosts Winston-Salem State the 21st at 7:00 p.m.