Chattanooga 68, Elon 53
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - Senior guard Brooke Hand (Moulton, Ala.) posted a game-high 15 points, connecting on 5-of-9 three-pointers to lead extend Chattanooga’s (13-3, 5-0) season-long win streak to eight games with a 68-53 victory over Elon (6-10, 2-3) Saturday afternoon in a Southern Conference action at The McKenzie Arena.
After a slow start left them tied at 7-7 with 13:28 to play in the first half, the Lady Mocs put together a 7-0 run to pull ahead 14-7 before the Phoenix closed the gap to 24-19 by the 5:00 mark. From there, Chattanooga took firm control of the game with a 15-4 run, to close out the first half and take a 39-23 lead into the break.
The Lady Mocs never looked back after that as they extended their lead to 59-36 behind four three-pointers by Hand with 9:51 to play in the game. Chattanooga would then maintain at least a 15-point lead the rest of the way as they closed out the 68-53 win to move to a perfect 5-0 in league play and strengthen their hold on first place in the Southern Conference.
In addition to Hand’s hot shooting, the Lady Mocs also received a strong all-around game from senior forward Alex Anderson (Stone Mountain, Ga.) who finished with 13 points and a game-high seven rebounds and four blocks. Sophomore forward Shanara Hollinquest (Sylacauga, Ala.) rounded out Chattanooga’s double-digit scorers with 12 points and added six rebounds.
For Elon, sophomore guard Tiffany Davis led the way with a team-high 14 points and six rebounds, as well as a game-high four steals, while senior guard Shashonna Moore finished with 10 points as the only other member of the Phoenix in double-figures. Junior center Shamica Spears chipped in with nine points on the afternoon on four-of-four shooting.
The Lady Mocs return to action on Monday, January 14 when they host UNC Greensboro in a 7:00 p.m. contest at The McKenzie Arena. Elon will travel to Cullowhee, N.C. to face Western Carolina in a 12:00 p.m. matchup on Monday afternoon.
NOTES
With 15 points on the afternoon, Brooke Hand has now reached double-figures in five of her last six games and is averaging 12.8 points per game during that stretch.
The Lady Mocs are 5-0 in Southern Conference action.
The Lady Mocs have won eight consecutive games.
College of Charleston 56, Furman 40
Charleston, S.C. ? Jill Furstenburg scored 21 points, just one below her career-high, while Nikki Williams posted her second straight double-double to lead the College of Charleston women’s basketball team to the 56-40 win over the Furman Paladins in front of 741 fans this afternoon at the John Kresse Arena.
Charleston, which played host to the Mt. Pleasant Recreation Department and Hanahan Elementary School today, improved to 8-7 overall and 4-1 in the Southern Conference. It marks the best league start for the Cougars since starting the 2000-01 season 5-1. Furman fell to 5-11 and 0-5 on the year.
The Cougars and Paladins were close for the first 26 minutes of the game. Charleston led by six with 1:31 to go before halftime, which was the largest lead for the Cougars in the first half. That would change at the 14:10 mark in the second half. With the score tied 30-30, Charleston embarked on a 19-3 run that gave the Cougars the 16-point, 49-33 lead with 4:55 remaining. Furman was able to cut the margin to 11 with 3:19 to go but Furstenburg scored the game’s final six of eight points to hold the Paladins at bay and help the Cougars to the 56-40 win.
Charleston shot 42.3 percent for the game, and held Furman to 24.1. It was the fourth time Charleston has held its opponent to under 30 percent this season. The Cougars out-rebounded the Paladins 45-29, including a 31-17 advantage in defensive boards. Furman had 11 fewer turnovers 23-12. The Paladins converted 23 of those turnovers to 18 points, the Cougars just eight. Charleston was only five-for-six from the free throw line, while Furman was 11-for-17.
Following Furstenburg in scoring was Williams with her 12 on the afternoon to go along with her team-leading 11 rebounds. Chrissy Phelps led the Paladins with 13 points, followed by 11 from Kali Holtfreter. Susan Troutman paced the team in rebounds with six.
Charleston hosts Wofford at the John Kresse Arena Monday, Jan. 14th at 7:00 p.m., while Furman heads down to Statesboro, Ga., to take on Georgia Southern the same date and time.
Davidson 80, Appalachian State 65
DAVIDSON, N.C. -- Senior Honna Housley (Riceville, Tenn.) tied a school record and hit a personal-best with six three-pointers on her way to a career-high 18 points, and two other Wildcats hit double figures as Davidson picked up an 80-65 Southern Conference win over Appalachian State in women's basketball action on Saturday afternoon at Belk Arena.
Davidson ran its conference mark to 3-2 and improved to 9-7 overall as the Wildcats won their third straight in the all-time series against the Mountaineers. ASU dropped its sixth straight, falling to 2-13 overall and 0-5 in league play.
Housley hit 6-of-9 from downtown to tie Janna Magette and Amy Scalcucci for most three-pointers in a game. All six of Housley's field goals were from behind the arc as she finished 6-of-13 overall, while hauling in four rebounds, dishing out two assists and pocketing two steals in 35 minutes of action.
Matching Housley for game-high honors was senior Danielle Hemerka (Blackwood, N.J.), who was 7-for-13 from the field and pulled down a season-best nine rebounds, six of them on offense. Hemerka is now just 31 points away from becoming the 11th Wildcat to hit 1,000 points for a career.
Hemerka hit one of her two three-pointers during a game-changing 16-2 run when Davidson turned a two-point lead into a 33-17 advantage with 4:21 to go the first half. Davidson as a team hit a season-high 10 treys, the most it had hit in a game since canning 11 at Gonzaga on Dec. 12, 2006.
A Monica Laune (Ashland, Neb.) free throw gave the Wildcats its biggest lead of the half as well as the game at 19 (40-21) and they entered halftime up 40-26. Laune, who made her first career start, had seven points and dished out a career-high six assists.
Davidson assisted on a season-best 23 of it 27 field goals, marking the first time it had over 20 assists in a game since a 23-assist effort against Wofford on Jan. 20, 2007.
The Wildcats closed out the first half shooting 48 percent from the field, including 54.5 percent (6-of-11) from downtown. They finished game at a 44.3 percent clip and were 10-of-23 from behind the arc for a 43.5 percent clip.
Davidson matched its output in the second period with another 40-point half as the 'Cats maintained a double-digit lead throughout the entire 20 minute period.
Two free throws by Whitey Tossie brought the Mountaineers within 11 points at 65-54 with 4:25 on the clock, but a Laune layup capped off a 9-2 Davidson run to push the lead back to 18, and the Wildcats cruised to the 80-65 victory.
Sophomore Julia Paquette (Stockbridge, Ga.) gave the Wildcats their third player in double figures, finishing in double digits for the eighth time this year with 10 points off the bench. Davidson as a team outscored ASU, 38-27, in bench points.
The Mountaineers were led in the scoring column by Brittany Mixon and GiGi Thomas with 13 points apiece, and Tossie gave ASU three players in double figures with 11. Mixon, who scored seven of her 13 points at the charity stripe, hauled in eight boards off the glass to help Appalachian State tie Davidson with 37 team rebounds.
Davidson gets a six-day break before traveling to UNC Greensboro for its next conference contest on Friday, Jan. 18 with game time set for 7:00 p.m. Appalachian State hosts East Tennessee State at 7:00 p.m. Wednesday night in its final non-conference game of the season.
Game Notes: Davidson's 10 three-pointers pushed its three-ball streak to 206 straight games with at least one three-pointer ... making their first career starts along with Laune was Mandy Halbersleben and Kelsey Cary ... six Wildcats in all had two or more steals as Davidson had a season-high 15 for the game ... Paquette picked up her eighth block in the past five games.
Georgia Southern 60, Wofford 54
STATESBORO, Ga. ? A key defensive play by Ashley Rivens led to Carolyn Whitney’s late three-pointer with 23 seconds remaining, giving the Georgia Southern women’s basketball team a six-point cushion to hold off a late Wofford rally, and claim a 60-54 victory at Hanner Fieldhouse, Saturday afternoon (Jan. 12).
Senior guard Tiffany Brown (Waxhaw, N.C.) led all scorers with 20 points to help Georgia Southern remain undefeated at home (5-0) and improve to 8-8 overall and 4-1 in Southern Conference action.
Wofford was led by Liz Miller and Kelsi Koenig with 14 points, apiece, as the team falls to 9-6 overall and 2-2 in league play.
Wofford quickly produced a 7-0 lead as Georgia Southern was unable to make its first eight baskets within the first five minutes of the game. Senior forward Christa Waterman (Sugar Hill, Ga.) broke the drought with a jumper to give the Lady Eagles their first points of the game and cut Wofford’s largest lead of the game ? seven points ? down to five.
Waterman’s bucket was followed on the next possession by Nya Daley’s (Toronto, Ont.) triple, which sparked a 10-2 scoring run over the next five minutes to give the Lady Eagles a 10-9 advantage with 10:54 remaining in the first stanza.
The lead changed nine more times before the break, and Wofford claimed a one-point edge, 29-28, over Georgia Southern going into halftime.
Georgia Southern was able to keep the game close, despite an off first half, going 11-of-38 (.289) from the field, compared to Wofford’s 11-of-24 (.458) field-goal shooting. Wofford’s 10 first-half turnovers hindered their effort, accounting for five GSU points. The Terriers converted two points off of four GSU turnovers in the first half.
Wofford’s Miller led all scorers at the break with 12 points on 4-of-4 field-goal shooting, while Brown led the Lady Eagles with nine points.
Georgia Southern changed the momentum in the second half, thanks in part to Brown and Whitney combining for 21 of GSU’s 32 points in the second half. A steal by senior guard Shawnda Atwood (Pensacola, Fla.) in the first minute led to GSU’s go-ahead bucket by sophomore J’Lisia Ogburn (Dublin, Ga.) and the Lady Eagles slowly built a 14-point lead, outscoring the Terriers 25-10 over the next 11 minutes.
Though the Lady Eagles managed to hold Wofford’s leading scorer, Miller, to just two points in the second half, teammates Koenig and Mahogany Williams stepped up to combine for 14 points.
Finding her team down 53-39 with 9:12 remaining in the contest, Kathlyn Varno sank a free-throw that sparked a 12-2 Wofford run over the next six minutes. The run was capped by Summer Nichols’ back-to-back free-throws and Wofford trailed by just four, 55-51, with 3:45 on the clock.
On the next possession, Brown responded with a pair of free-throws, herself, before Koenig knocked down a three-pointer with 1:42 remaining to close the gap to just three points, 57-54.
Key rebounds by sophomore forward Jessica Geiger (Stone Mountain, Ga.) and Atwood, and a gutsy defensive play by Ashley Rivens (Charlotte, N.C.) that caused a jumpball preceding Whitney's triple, prevented Wofford from staging a successful rally. The Lady Eagles held on for the win, marking its 12th-consecutive victory over the Terriers.
Georgia Southern improved its shooting in the second half, going 13-of-27 (.481) from the field, compared to Wofford’s 8-of-34 (.235) shooting from the field, thanks in large part to a GSU bench that outscored Wofford 36-24.
Wofford claimed a 47-43 edge in the rebounds category and was led by Kelly Dwyer with nine boards. Atwood led the Lady Eagles in rebounds for the seventh time, pulling down nine boards on the day. She also dished out a game-high four assists.
Brown is one point shy of hitting the 1,000-points milestone and joining 16 other Lady Eagles to have accomplished such a feat.
Georgia Southern looks to continue its home-winning streak as it hosts Furman, Monday, January 14. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m. at Hanner Fieldhouse.
Western Carolina 66, UNC Greensboro 53
CULLOWHEE, N.C. ? After nearly a month on the road, Western Carolina women’s basketball was welcomed home with a 66-53 Southern Conference victory over UNC Greensboro Saturday in the Ramsey Center. A crowd of 1,010 saw the Lady Catamounts win their third consecutive Southern Conference game and improve to 11-5 on the season and 3-1 in the conference. UNC Greensboro falls to 3-13 and 1-4 in the conference.
The Lady Catamounts had a rocky start to begin the game. Western Carolina missed its first nine shots, and got its first point of the game when senior Monique Dawson hit 1-of-2 from the free throw line. Senior Ashley Pellom hit Western Carolina’s first field goal of the game at the 15:36 minute mark, draining a three-pointer to tie the game at six.
The game see-sawed back and forth and after the sixth tie of the first half, at 16, Dawson hit a jumper with 7:55 left in the half to give Western Carolina a 20-18 lead. All together the Lady Catamounts went on a 20-4 run in the final eight minutes of the half to lead 38-22 at the half.
Western Carolina built as much as a 22 point lead in the second half before UNC Greensboro went on a mini run. UNC Greensboro cut the lead to 13 with 2:28 remaining but Western Carolina didn’t allow UNCG to score a field goal in the final two minutes to close out the game.
Freshman Emily Clarke led both clubs with 11 points and also had four rebounds and three steals. Senior Ashley Pellom was the only other player, on both squads, to score in double figures with 11. Sophomore Kristen Feemster scored a career-high eight points and also pulled down six rebounds.
Western Carolina shot 40.6 percent from the field and their 50 rebounds was the third-best mark this season. The Lady Catamounts benefited from 40 points off the bench and also scored 19 points off second chance attempts.
The Lady Catamounts will play an early game on Monday as a part of the athletic department’s Education Day. Children from area schools will get to come to the noon game to see Western Carolina take on Elon in the Ramsey Center. UNC Greensboro heads to Chattanooga to face the league-leading Lady Mocs at 7:00 p.m. Monday night.