Wofford 68, Davidson 65
SPARTANBURG, S.C. -- The Wofford women's basketball fought tooth-and-nail Saturday afternoon and earned arguably the program's biggest win in nearly five years with a 68-65 victory against Davidson in Southern Conference action inside the Benjamin Johnson Arena in Spartanburg, S.C., on Senior Day. The Terriers outscored the Wildcats 10-7 in the extra frame and held on for the triumph.
Wofford recognized the accomplishments of the senior class of K.C. Correll, Susanna Paul, Jennifer Weurding and Mary Jo Yee prior to the game. The quartet earned starts, along with sophomore Liz Miller.
It was not until overtime, however, that the Terriers converted opportunistic buckets, including a pair of 3-pointers, while holding Davidson, the second-highest scoring team in the conference, to just 2-of-8 from the field. Yee hit her only triple of the game to give Wofford (13-13, 7-9 SoCon) a 61-58 lead before Jessica Mitchell responded to equal the scoring with 3:49 left.
Junior Kelsi Koenig knocked down both her free throw attempts following the fifth foul on preseason All-SoCon pick Katie Hamilton, but Brynn Kelly again brought the Wildcats even at 63-63 with 3:30 remaining. Miller then stepped behind the arc following a sequence in which the Terriers got offensive boards on two previous misses and the point guard tallied her final bucket of the game to put Wofford ahead by three, 66-63. Tia Washington hit two more free throws for Davidson (20-7, 11-5 SoCon) to close the gap to one, 66-65, at 2:14, but the visitors would not score again.
Both teams missed shots before the Terriers called timeout with :28 seconds to go after a shot clock violation on the Wildcats. Wofford drew a play in the huddle to perfectly break Davidson's full-court press as Weurding found a wide-open Koenig for a layup and a three-point Terrier edge with :20 seconds left. The Wildcats' Honna Housley launched a 3-pointer with seven seconds on the clock and the rebound went out of bounds. Following a Davidson timeout, Jessica Mitchell hurried a wild trey from the corner over Weurding but the shot was off the mark and her rebounded attempt was too late as time expired.
The two teams played an even contest as the score was deadlocked 32-32 at halftime and 58-58 at the end of regulation, forcing Wofford's first overtime contest of the season and the second-straight meeting between the two teams in Spartanburg to use the extra time.
The Terriers had jumped ahead early, 10-4, following a Miller triple at the 15:14 mark of the first half. Koenig kept the margin at six, 12-6, but Davidson rallied with a 9-2 run to take its first lead, 15-14, with 10:54 to play in the opening stanza. Wofford, however, countered with a surge of its own, an 8-1 run, over the next five minutes to take a 22-16 lead before Mitchell snapped it with a bucket at 5:45.
Mitchell added another jumper at 4:38 to again bring the Wildcats within one, 23-22, before the Terriers rattled off five straight points behind another 3-pointer by Miller and a jumper from Weurding. Freshman Natalie Gramblin hit a mid-range field goal with 1:12 remaining in the half to provide Wofford with its final six-point lead, 32-26.
Davidson would end the half by scoring the final six points, including a layup from Washington as time expired, to knot the score. The Wildcats would then use that momentum and tally the initial six points of the second half for a 12-0 spurt and 38-32 lead with 17:57 to play in regulation. Over the course of the next six-and-a-half minutes, both teams would trade buckets but Davidson would see its edge grow to as much as nine on two instances with the last coming at 11:34 on a Kelly jumper for a 49-40 advantage.
Wofford, however, continued to fight and with 7:41 on the clock, freshman Kelly Dwyer hit her third 3-pointer of the game as the Terriers would take a 53-52 lead on a 13-3 surge. The Wildcats regained control again and Mercedes Robinson scored four points in a 6-0 run for a 58-53 Davidson advantage with 3:34 remaining in regulation.
Weurding added a pair of layups, sandwiching a made free throw by Correll, and Wofford rallied to knot the score at the end of regulation and force the extra frame. Miller pulled down the rebound off a missed Mitchell jumper with :04 seconds left and fell hard to the floor resulting in a chipped tooth.
Koenig led the Terriers with 14 points and three steals, while equaling the seven rebounds by Weurding. Miller and Weurding each finished with 13 points and Dwyer contributed 11 to finish two shy of her career-best effort. Weurding also blocked two shots, raising her Southern Conference record to 241 and giving her at least one in all 16 league contests this season. Sophomore Laura Depko dished out a career-high six assists in the win.
Robinson paced the Wildcats with a double-double outing of 16 points and 11 rebounds, including nine offensively. The 16 points are a career best. Hamilton also hauled in a game-high 12 caroms, while Kelly added 13 points, Washington finished with 12 points and Mitchell tallied 11 as both teams had four players in double-figure scoring.
The Terriers will close their regular-season slate with a pair of games beginning at 7 p.m. Monday when they visit UNC Greensboro in Greensboro, N.C. Davidson will travel to Appalachian State for a 7 p.m. Tuesday tip.
UNC Greensboro 57, Elon 48
ELON, N.C. Kaleah Latham knocked down a game-high 18 points as UNC Greensboro turned back Elon 57-48 in Southern Conference women?s basketball action Saturday afternoon at Alumni Gym.
Latham connected on eight of her 12 attempts from the field while snagging eight rebounds as the Spartans (19-8 overall, 12-4 SoCon) out-rebounded the Phoenix (10-17, 4-12) by a 45-40 margin.
UNCG also outscored Elon 28-20 in the paint and 11-7 off turnovers. The Phoenix committed 12 turnovers to 14 by the Spartans. UNCG fired 39.6 percent (21 of 53) from the floor to 31.0 percent (18 of 58) by Elon.
A jumper by the Spartans? Jasmine Dixon forced the game?s fourth and final tie at 14-14 with 8:45 to play in the first half. A free throw by Tierra Bumbrey marked the Phoenix?s last lead at 15-14 with 8:13 to go in the opening frame.
UNCG reeled off 12 consecutive points to build a 26-15 lead on a put-back by Kristen Boone with 4:14 remaining before the break. The Spartans eventually fashioned a 35-22 advantage before settling for a 35-23 halftime edge.
Katie Whidden canned a basket inside to pull Elon within 35-25 with 19:30 to go in the second stanza. UNCG scored six straight points to extend its edge to 41-25 on a lay-up by Latham with 15:40 remaining in the contest. The Spartans never led by less than eight points the rest of the way.
In addition to Latham, UNCG received key performances from Boone (12 points, six rebounds, three assists, two steals), Brittany Frazier (game-high 11 rebounds, game-high three blocked shots), Jasmine Byrd (eight rebounds, three assists) and Irene Otamiri (game-high four steals).
Elon was led by Tiffany Davis (10 points, game-high four steals), Nikko King (eight points, 10 rebounds), Whidden (seven rebounds) and Tierra Bumbrey (game-high four assists).
On Monday, the Phoenix will visit Furman at 4:30 p.m. while the Spartans will host Wofford at 7 p.m.
Chattanooga 64, College of Charleston 60
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. -- The Chattanooga women's basketball edged the College of Charleston 64-60 in Southern Conference action at the McKenzie Arena Saturday night to claim its eighth consecutive 20-win season in front of 1,732 fans.
The win moves the Lady Mocs to 20-7 overall and 13-3 in Southern Conference action. They remain tied with Western Carolina for the SoCon lead. The loss give the Cougars their seventh consecutive loss and ninth straight league loss, falling to 10-18 overall and 5-11 in league action.
College of Charleston’s Jade Hughes hit a jumper for the first score of the game, but it would be the only time the Cougars would see the lead as Alex Anderson hit a pair of free throws to tie it up before hitting a couple of layups to put UTC up 6-2. Charleston would keep the Lady Mocs in check, however, not letting the margin get wider than eight points in the first half.
Chattanooga led 40-34 at the half with CofC’s Hughes leading all scorers with 16 points. Anderson had 14 at the break and Laura Hall went 2-for-4 from the 3-point line for six points.
Charleston cut the lead to one point twice in the second half, outscoring the Lady Mocs 12-7 to trail 47-46 with 9:56 to play. Laura Hall punctuated a 10-1 run with a 3-pointer at the 6:39 mark to give the Lady Mocs their first double-digit lead of the game at 57-47. That lead was wiped out by a trio of Cougar 3-pointers over the next four minutes to pull Charleston to 57-56 with 2:34 to play.
Anderson’s pair of free throws gave UTC a little breathing room, putting the Lady Mocs up 59-56 with 2:10 remaining. Both teams went cold over the next couple of minutes before exchanging free throws. Sarah Moye’s jumper with six seconds to play cut the lead to 61-60. Charleston fouled Hall to stop the clock and the junior guard hit the first of two free throws, but missed the second. Freshman Shanara Hollinquest pulled in the offensive rebound, drew the foul and drained both of her free throws to put the game out of reach at 64-60.
Anderson just missed a double-double with 20 points and nine rebounds. She tied her season high with four blocked shots and had two steals with no turnovers. Hall was 3-of-6 from beyond the arc and had 14 points, four rebounds and four assists.
Hughes led the Cougars making 7-of-15 from the floor including three 3-pointers. She had a game-high 20 points and had seven rebounds and six assists. Sarah Moye had a game-high 14 rebounds, scored six points and blocked four shots before fouling out. Erika Smith, who left the game with a knee injury, chipped in six points for the Cougars, had three boards and two blocked shots.
Chattanooga edged Charleston on the boards 42-41 but only managed eight points off 13 Cougar miscues. After shooting 48.4 percent in the first half, Chattanooga went 6-of-29 in the second with three coming from beyond the arc.
Chattanooga will be on the road to Statesboro, Ga., to take on Georgia Southern who is 11-16 overall and 6-10 in SoCon play. The game will tip off at 5:00 p.m. as the first game of a double-header. The College of Charleston will travel to Cullowhee, N.C., to face Western Carolina in a 7:00 p.m. tip.
Listen to all the Lady Mocs action live! Larry Ward, the “Voice of the Lady Mocs” broadcasts every Chattanooga game on the flagship station of the Lady Mocs, WDOD-AM 1310 or listen live around the world at the official website of UTC athletics, www.GoMocs.com.
Western Carolina 72, Furman 48
Cullowhee, N.C. - An early six-point deficit was the lone hiccup for Western Carolina on Saturday afternoon as the Lady Catamounts bounced back from its first loss in 37 days to top the Furman Lady Paladins, 72-48, in Southern Conference action at the Ramsey Center. The win was WCU's sixth-straight over Furman and completed the season sweep for the second-consecutive year.
Western, which improved to 19-8 overall, 13-3 in the SoCon, remains in a two-way tie atop the league with the Chattanooga Lady Mocs, who survived a scare at home against the College of Charleston before winning, 64-60. WCU visits the Cougars on Monday night at the Kresse Arena before concluding regular season play at home next Saturday (Feb. 24) against UNC Greensboro.
Junior guard Monique Dawson led two Lady Cats in double figures on the afternoon with a game-high 15 points, marking her 20th double-digit performance of the season. For the fourth-straight game, Dawson added five assists and finished with a team-best three steals. Sophomore Lauren Powell joined her in double figures on the day, tallying 13 points, nine of which came in the first half. The Asheville, N.C., native finished 5-of-8 from the floor, including 3-of-4 from long range.
Junior Jessika Johnson - who later in the day won second-place in the SoCon Indoor Track & Field Championships High Jump competition - recorded nine points with her classmate Ashley Pellom also scoring nine while dishing out three assists. Sophomore Kendra Eaton nearly posted a double-double with eight points and eight boards and freshman Heather Swayne tied her career-high with seven points and a pair of assists off the bench.
Furman (9-18, 4-12 SoCon) opened the game 5-for-5 from the floor to take its largest lead of the game at six points, 10-4, at the 17:10 mark of the first half. Yet, the Lady Paladins would only manage a total of seven points the remainder of the opening stanza as WCU outscored Furman 31-to-7 to lead at the break, 35-17.
Out of the halftime locker room, four-consecutive points by Dawson pushed the Lady Catamount advantage over 20 points where it would remain until the final three minutes of regulation. WCU used a 9-0 spurt over the first two and a half minutes to build its lead to 27, 44-17, led by as many as 28 midway through the frame en route to the 24-point victory.
Furman, which was limited to 47 points in the first meeting between the two teams earlier this season in Greenville, failed to put a player in double figures on Saturday. Sophomore Katie Johnson led the Lady Paladins with nine points on 4-of-5 shooting, with junior Chrissy Phelps and sophomore Courtney Opie each chipping in eight.
Western, which leads the SoCon in rebounding, held a decisive edge on the boards, out rebounding Furman 52-to-26, including 18 on the offensive end. The Lady Catamounts shot 43.9-percent (25-of-57) from the floor, including 5-of-13 (38.5%) from beyond the 3-point arc, as compared to Furman's 35.1-percent (20-of-57) and just 2-of-15 (13.3%) on 3-pointers. WCU shot 85-percent from the charity stripe, nailing all eight opportunities in the final 20 minutes.
Monday night's game at the College of Charleston will be broadcast by the Catamount Sports Network with Steven Crumpler on the call. The game can be heard live on www.CatamountSports.com with an air time of 6:45 pm, 7:00 pm tip-off.