Game 1: Appalachian State 64, Elon 50
SLIDESHOW
NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. - Appalachian State University jumped out to a 17-point first-half lead and never looked back in defeating Elon University, 64-50, in the opening round of the Southern Conference Tournament Tuesday evening at the North Charleston Coliseum.
The seventh-seeded Mountaineers shot 48 percent from the floor and scored 27 points off Elon turnovers. The 10th-seeded Phoenix could only muster a 27 percent effort from the field. The Phoenix exit the tournament with a final record of 10-20. Appalachian improved its record to 13-17 and will face No. 2 Chattanooga in the quarterfinals Wednesday morning at 10 a.m.
Whitney Tossie led all players with 16 points on 6-of-11 shooting from the field with four assists. Maria Grimes added 13 points for the Apps with GiGi Thomas and Jaime Bennett each scoring 10 points.
Amber Wall paced the Phoenix with 14 points followed by Rachel Hester and Tierra Bumbrey with 11 and 10 points, respectively.
ASU shot a season-best 92.3 percent from the free-throw line, converting on 12 of its 13 attempts from the line. The win was also ASU’s first in the SoCon Tournament under fifth-year head coach Adrienne Shuler.
Appalachian outshot Elon 48 to 31 percent in the opening half to build up a 39-22 lead at halftime. The two squads traded bucked for the first eight minutes until ASU went on a 10-3 run to take a 19-9 lead on a Grimes three-pointer. ASU never let the Phoenix within seven points for the remainder of the half and closed out the period with a 5-0 run capped by Jaime Bennett’s layup as time expired to give the Mountaineers a 17-point lead at intermission.
ASU opened the second stanza on a 4-0 run, and held Elon without a field goal for the first 3:47 of the half to take a 23-point, 45-22, lead. The Mountaineers extended that lead to as many as 25 on a Tossie three-pointer to make the score 54-29 with 11:51 remaining.
The Phoenix looked prepared to make a surge with back-to-back three-pointers from Bumbrey and Nicole Allison to cut into the lead, however, ASU answered with four-straight points to briefly reassert control of the game. Undeterred, the Phoenix’s Wall later assembled a 7-0 run of her own capped by a three-point play to make the score 60-44. Wall’s personal outburst led to the Phoenix outscoring the Mountaineers, 15-6, over the final 10 minutes of the contest for the final 64-50 margin.
Game 2: Furman 64, College of Charleston 59
SLIDESHOW
NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. - Furman University staved off a furious College of Charleston rally to hang on for a 64-59 win in the first round of the Southern Conference women’s basketball tournament Tuesday evening.
Furman’s Chrissy Phelps and CofC’s Nikki Williams led all scorers with 14 points each. Furman advances to face No. 1 Western Carolina at noon Wednesday. No. 9 Furman improved its record to 11-19. CofC ends its season with a 10-20 mark.
Furman extended an eight-point halftime lead into a 15-point, 39-24, lead four minutes into the second half. That lead slowly evaporated to seven points, 49-42, with 4:02 left on a Deidra Jones free throw. Furman ran its lead back up to as many as 11 points with 43 seconds to play as the Paladins went 9-of-12 from the free-throw line in the final two minutes.
However, the resilient Cougars still challenged the lead when Jill Furstenberg nailed a three-pointer from the elbow and was fouled with nine seconds remaining. Furstenberg converted on the ensuing free throw for the four-point play to cut Furman’s lead to three, 62-59. Furstenberg finished the evening with 10 points.
The Paladins managed to break the CofC press on the following possession for an uncontested fast-break layup from Adrienne Gilmore. Furman’s defense then drew a charge to effectively seal the 64-59 victory.
From the tip, the Paladins wasted little time in getting on the board, scoring 14 seconds into the game to start a 7-0 run that eventually developed into a 12-2 lead 3:17 into the contest. CofC battled back, outscoring Furman 14-4 over the next 11 minutes to tie the game at 16-16 on a three-point play from Brooke Kotcella.
Furman responded by running its lead back out to eight, 28-20, on consecutive three-pointers from Chrissy Phelps and Sarah Baker with 31 seconds left in the half. Despite a last-second scrum under the Paladin basket, the score remained 28-20 heading into the intermission.
From the field, the game was closely contested with each team converting at a 40-percent clip. However, Furman made good on 39 percent of its three-point field goal attempts while CofC shot 21 percent from behind the arc. FU also shot 83 percent from the charity stripe and was awarded 13 more attempts than CofC.