Chattanooga 88, Miami University 63
SAN ANTONIO, Texas -- Alex Anderson led four Chattanooga players in double figures to lead the Lady Mocs to an 88-63 win over Miami University (Ohio) on day two of the UTSA Wells Fargo New Year’s Classic.
Anderson, with 20 first half points, posted her third double-double this year with a season-high tying 27 points and 14 rebounds. Jenaya Wade-Fray tallied her first 20-point game of the season going 4-for-4 from 3-point land while Shanara Hollinquest, 6-of-11, scored 13 points and grabbed seven rebounds. Brooke Hand, 3-for-7 from beyond the arc, had 10 points for her second straight double digit game.
The Lady Mocs started the game with a 10-2 run over the first 3:25 and stretched its lead in the first half to as much as 14 points and led 41-30 at the half. In the second half, Chattanooga continued to pound away at the RedHawks and led by as much as 32 in the second half.
With 13:59 to play in the second half, Brooke Hand drained back-to-back 3-pointers that put her tied for 18th on Chattanooga’s all-time scoring list with 1,014 points. Those treys sparked a 16-0 run for the Lady Mocs over a 4:32 that put Chattanooga up by 27.
Laura Hall dished out seven assists in the contest while Wade-Fray and Amy Mohr each had three for Chattanooga.
The RedHawks (7-6), without top scorer Amanda Jackson with an eye injury were led by Jenna Schone with 15 points. Courtney Reed had 14 points and seven rebounds while Stephanie Ford had 12 points. Ashley Hawkins had a team-high five assists.
Chattanooga (10-3, 2-0 SoCon) will return to action Saturday, Jan. 5 at Appalachian State. The game will tip off 2 p.m.
Georgetown 78, Furman 58
BLACKSBURG, Va. ? Senior Kieraah Marlow led four Lady Hoyas in double-digit points with 18 as Georgetown defeated Furman 78-58 in the consolation of the Virginia Tech Hokie Hardwood Classic.
The Lady Hoyas got off to a quick 9-0 start in the first half, before the Lady Paladins were able to narrow their lead to two at the 11-minute mark.
Furman was unable to take the lead, however, and Georgetown went on to lead by as many as 19 in the first half before heading into the break with a comfortable 43-26 lead.
Marlow scored the first points of the second half for Georgetown, and Furman answered with a pair of three-pointers and a pair of free throws from Sarah Baker, but was unable to overcome Georgetown’s lead.
The Lady Hoyas were led by Marlow’s 18 points, while junior Brina Pollack added 14, freshman Monica McNutt contributed 11, and sophomore Meredith Cox added 10 for Georgetown.
Offensively, Furman was led by senior Chrissy Phelps’ 13 points, while sophomore Kali Holtfreter added 12, all scored in the second half. Junior Katie Johnson led Furman with eight total rebounds. Furman did recover from yesterday’s game on the free-throw line, going 26-28 from the line for a team percentage of 92.9.
Furman will return home Wednesday, January 2 with a league game against UNC Greensboro. Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m.
North Carolina State 72, Western Carolina 53
RALEIGH, N.C. ? Western Carolina women’s basketball had two players match their season high, in the first half, and one player score in double figures for the sixth straight game, but it wasn’t enough to turn back an explosive North Carolina State team. The Lady Catamounts dropped their second straight game with a 72-53 loss to the Wolpack on Sunday at Reynolds Coliseum. WCU falls to 8-4 on the season and NC State improves to 12-3.
Senior Jessika Johnson, who got her first start of the season because of the injury to junior Brooke Johnson, tied her season-high of 10 points all in the first half. However, Jessika Johnson couldn’t find the bucket in the second half. The same can be said for sophomore Kristen Feemster who hit three huge bucket in the first half, tying her season-high in the first 20 minutes, but didn’t score in the second half.
Western Carolina got a spark from senior Monique Dawson in the second half. After scoring the first points in the game in the opening minutes of the first half, a three-pointer, Dawson didn’t score again in the first 20 minutes. However, in the second half, she tallied 12 points to end the game with 15. Dawson matched her average in the last four games and is now averaging 15.2 points in her last five games.
The Lady Cats matched the Wolfpack almost basket for basket in the first half. Both teams shot a mirror image as both were 12-of-34 from the field and shot 35.3 percent. The difference in the first half was free throw shooting as NC State was 9-of-10 and WCU was 4-of-8. The game was tied with 1:06 left in the first half after Johnson hit a pair of free throws. NC State answered with her own free throws when Chanita Jordan connected on both with 41 seconds left to play. Western Carolina had a chance to tie the game but Heather Swayne’s shot was blocked and NC State picked up the ball and Sharnise Beal hit a lay-up with one second left on the clock.
Trailing by four at the half, 34-30, North Carolina State came out in the second half and went on a 14-9 lead in the first eight minutes of the second half. Western Carolina did cut the Wolfpack’s lead down to eight with 12:09 left thanks to a three-point play by Dawson but NC State quickly answered with three consecutive field goals to push the lead to 15.
Overall, Western Carolina shot 35 percent from the field. The Lady Catamounts, who are normally pretty prolific from the free throw line, had an anemic performance at the charity stripe only hitting 9-of-21. The team also was just 28.9 percent, 2-for-7, from behind the three-point arch. NC State shot 40.6 percent from the field and was 14-of-22 from the free throw line.
Pellom was the third player to score in double figures with 10 points, scoring six of her 10 in the second half. Senior Chevon Keith led the team in rebounds with nine, just missing a double figure rebounding performance. Feemster had a season-high eight rebounds.
Western Carolina will try and rebound on Thursday when the team plays its final non-conference game of the season traveling to UNC-Wilmington. It is the second of four straight road games for the Lady Catamounts. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.
HEAD COACH KELLIE HARPER QUOTES:
“I was very disappointed in our play today. I thought physically they pushed us and abused us on both ends of the court. Their size really affected our offense. It made it tough on our players to score. I really felt like our focus wasn’t here today and wasn’t ready to play. We can correct this and we will correct this in the next two days. It doesn’t who we play we aren’t going to win basketball games playing like this.”
No. 12 DePaul 111, Appalachian State 62
SAN DIEGO, Calif. - Sam Ramirez connected on 7-of-11 field goals for 19 and Brittany Mixon matched a career high with 15 points, but it was not enough to deal DePaul its second loss of the season, as the Mountaineers fell 111-62 in the third-place game at the Maggie Dixon Surf 'N Slam Tournament in San Diego.
DePaul (11-1) rattled off the first 11 points of the game before Ramirez drained a three-pointer on her first shot of the contest. Ramirez sank a pair of free throws shortly after, as ASU opened an 11-7 run. Ramirez posted 10 of the team's first 18 points in the contest and amassed 14 by halftime.
GiGi Thomas also regained her form in the contest, and tallied 11 points before the intermission. Three players scored in double figures in the half for DePaul, as the Blue Demons held a 62-42 advantage after 20 minutes. Thomas finished the night with a pair of steals and an assist as well.
ASU (2-10) shot 45 percent from the field in the opening stanza but was overshadowed by DePaul's impressive 23-for-41 performance, including 9-of-15 three-pointers. The Blue Demons were just as aggressive in the second half, as the team opened with a 10-0 run spanning the first three minutes.
Mixon snapped the run with her third bucket of the game. The junior forward scored each of the team's first six points in the second half en route to 15 for the night on 7-for-14 shooting. She landed her first career double-double as well, adding a team-leading 11 rebounds.
Appalachian set out on a 9-4 run at the 14:29 mark, as Mixon scored six and Ramirez added three. The black and gold never cut the deficit to fewer than 25 points for the remainder of the game, as each Blue Demon scored at least four points in the contest. Four players posted double-figure points.
ASU pulled down 31 rebounds compared to 45 for the opposition, and ripped away just nine steals, the lowest total of the season. Whitney Tossie accounted for three of the steals, and added nine points and four rebounds for the night. ASU shot 38 percent from the floor in the game compared to 54 percent for DePaul.
DePaul became the first team in over a year to score 100 points against ASU, as ETSU posted 104 in a win early last season. The 111 points were the eighth-most ever scored against a Mountaineer team. For the Blue Demons, the win is the 600th in program history. Over the program's 34-year history, DePaul is 600-353.
San Diego and Texas met up in the Maggie Dixon Surf 'N Slam Championship game immediately following the contest.
The Apps are off until next weekend, when the squad returns home. ASU hosts Chattanooga as SoCon play resumes on January 5. Tip-off against the reigning league champion is set for 2 p.m.