College of Charleston 86, Kennesaw State 79
Kennesaw, Ga. - Brooke Kotcella (Anderson, S.C) and Deidra Jones (Irmo, S.C.) both scored career-highs to lead the College of Charleston women's basketball team to the 86-79 win over Kennesaw State this afternoon at the KSU Convocation Center in Kennesaw, Ga.
The Cougars improve to 2-1 on the year, marking the first time since the 2004-05 season they have opened the season 2-1. Kennesaw Sate falls to 0-4 on the year. The 86 points by CofC was the largest total since scoring 96 against Wofford Feb. 14, 2005.
The Owls jumped out to a nine point lead six minutes into the contest, but the Cougars used an 11-2 run to take the lead, 23-22, with 9:30 left in the first half. KSU would get the lead back to two points, but Charleston surged forward with seven consecutive points to take a 32-25 lead with 6:13 to go
KSU pulled within three with 2:47 to go, but Jones scored six of the Cougars' eight points in a small 8-4 run to lead the team into the locker room at half winning 42-35.
In the second half, the lead grew to as large as 12 for the Cougars, coming at 75-63 with seven minutes to go. The Owls weren't done, though, as KSU went on a 16-8 run to cut the margin to four with just 29 seconds to remaining. Clutch free throws by the Cougars down the stretch kept the Owls from getting any closer as CofC took the 86-79 win.
Charleston was led by Kotcella's 22 points, with Tonia Gerty (Port Orange, Fla.) adding 19 points and seven assists, and Jones tossing in 17 points and grabbing nine rebounds. Jade Hughes (Spartanburg, S.C.) also had seven assists for the Cougars.
Kennesaw State was led by Kelley with 23 points. Jennifer Baker followed with 19 on the afternoon. Britteny Henderson paced the Owls with seven rebounds.
Charleston shot 50.0 percent from the field for the game, compared to 46.7 for KSU. The Cougars went 18-for-24 from the free throw line, while the Owls were19-for-29. Charleston edged KSU 36-35 in rebounds and had one more turnover, 20-19.
The Owls will be back in action on December 3 when they visit Troy for a 7 p.m. game. The Cougars host Coastal Carolina Nov. 25 in a 7 p.m. contest at the Carolina First Arena. It will be the first contest for CofC in the new building.
Georgia Southern 52, UNC Asheville 39
STATESBORO, Ga. - Jessica Geiger (Stone Mountain, Ga.) scored a season high of 12 points in Georgia Southern’s 52-39 win over UNC Asheville Saturday afternoon in Hanner Fieldhouse.
Ashley Melson (Newnan, Ga.) was the only other Lady Eagle to score in double figures. The senior guard scored 11 points and had seven steals.
Georgia Southern jumped out to an early 10-0 lead to start the first half before Asheville went on a 5-0 run capped off by Lindsey Thompson’s 3-pointer with 12:09 remaining.
The Bulldogs pulled within three on a Chioma Okoli layup at the 5:49 mark. Geiger broke a six minute scoreless drought and started an 8-0 run.
“She got the looks today and knocked them down especially when we needed them,” said Cram.
Melson gave the Lady Eagles an 11 point lead with 1:42 remaining after she stole the ball and scored on a layup.
Jessica Monroe nailed a buzzer beater right before the end of the first half to cut the lead to 22-13 at halftime.
“I felt like the intensity wasn’t there even when we were up 10-0,” said head coach Rusty Cram. “I didn’t feel like we were focused today, and that is the first time we have seen that in this team.”
Georgia Southern started off the second half with a 6-2 run, which was capped by Ashley Rivens’ (Charlotte, N.C.) two free throws. The Lady Eagles went 13 of 15 from the free throw line.
Ipek Derici nailed a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 28-20 with 15:11. Georgia Southern responded and got their biggest lead of the afternoon after Brittney Nelson (Rochester, Mich.) made a 3-pointer with 11:22 remaining to give the Lady Eagles a 16 point advantage.
Georgia Southern, however, went on another six minute scoreless drought, and the Bulldogs pulled within nine with 6:01 remaining in the game. Jamie Navarro (Naples, Fla.) broke the scoring drought with a 3-pointer with 5:41 left in the half.
“Jamie is going to do all of those little things. She will scrap, get loose balls and rebound,” stated Cram.
Asheville was unable to bring the cut under 10 points the rest of the way and lost 52-39 despite a 23+ rebounding advantage.
“We shot the ball poorly today and got outrebounded, but we found a way to win,” said Cram.
Georgia Sothern scored 27 points off turnovers as the Bulldogs committed a season high 35 in the loss.
The Lady Eagles return to action Tuesday at Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.
Western Carolina 73, Liberty 53
CULLOWEE, N.C. ? Emily Clarke tied her career-high with 18 points to help pace Western Carolina women’s basketball to a 73-53 win over Liberty in the Preseason WNIT Consolation Winner’s Bracket Finals Saturday in the Ramsey Center. The Lady Catamounts improve to 2-1 on the season and even their record to 3-3 in WNIT sponsored events. Liberty, who was receiving a vote in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches’ Poll, falls to 1-2 on the season.
Clarke opened the game with a three-pointer from the top of the key and that ensured Western Carolina would never trail in the game. However, WCU took some time to find its footing against the flame, and after the game was tied at 16 with 8:28 left in the first half, the Lady Catamounts went on a 14-3 run to lead 30-19 at the half.
Western Carolina built as much as a 19 point lead to start the second half, with a 12-6 run, with was capped off by a jumper by Brooke Johnson with 16:10 to go. However, WCU left the door open for a possible Liberty comeback when the club went on a scoring drought, only a pair of field goals and one free throw in the span six minutes to the Flame claw within 10 with 10 minutes to go in the game.
Clarke nailed down the Liberty threat when she drained a three-pointer, her second of three in game, to push the lead back to 13. Liberty would never get closer in the game and twice more Western Carolina tied its largest lead of 19 to ensure a victory.
Western Carolina shot a season-high 45.8 percent from the field and also connected on seven three-pointers in the game. The club, however, was out-rebounded by Liberty with the Flames winning the board advantage with 32 to Western Carolina’s 32.
Clarke of course led the team with 18 points but was also deadly from the field hitting 6-of-8 and 3-of-4 from the three-point line and was also 3-of-4 from the free throw line. For the second time this season, junior guard Heather Swayne came off the bench to score in double digits with 10 against Lafayette.
Johnson led the Lady Catamounts with eight boards and was followed closely by Clarke who had six. Also of note was junior guard Jessica Jackson who had a career-high eight points and also a career-best six assists.
Western Carolina heads on the road to Knoxville, Tennessee to face No. 5 Tennessee on Tuesday. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.
Towson 76, Davidson 58
TOWSON, Md. -- Despite a career-high 16 points from shooting guard Ashley Lax (Little Rock, Ark.) and placing all nine players in the scorers’ book, Davidson was not able to overcome a 27.3 percent shooting performance in the first half, dropping a 76-58 road contest to the Towson Tigers at the Towson Center on Saturday evening.
Towson rode the hot-shooting of Shanae Baker-Brice and Simona Petronyte, who combined for 24 first-half points, as the Tigers improved to 2-0. The Wildcats, who played the third of six straight road games to open the season, dropped to 1-2 on the young year.
Lax nailed 4-of-12 shots from the field, including a game-high two three-balls to surpass her pervious high of 11 points scored last year against Furman. The sophomore, who also added a 6-for-7 performance at the charity stripe, added five rebounds and two assists.
The duo of Baker-Brice and Petronyte along with Omara Parker hit double figures for the Tigers, netting 18, 16 and 13 points, respectively.
Baker-Brice and Simona Petronyte provided the offensive spark in the first half as Davidson fell into a 23-point hole at halftime, 45-22. Coupled with the hot shooting of Baker-Brice and Petronyte was Davidson's turnover problems as it coughed the ball up 21 times in the half, and 34 in all for the game.
In addition, the Wildcats also were hurt by having their leading scorer, senior Mercedes Robinson (Baltimore, Md.), play only seven minutes in the first half after getting two quick early fouls. She finished with eight points and three rebounds, after starting the year with back-to-back double doubles.
Baker-Brice netted nine of Towson's first 16 points to help the Tigers jump out to a four-point advantage at 16-12 with 8:52 left on the clock. The guard hit six of her first eight shots, including two three-balls on her way to 14 first-half points.
Later after Towson had pushed its lead out to 14 (28-14), Lax did her best to match Baker-Brice by finishing off a three-point play at the 4:25 mark to cut the Wildcat deficit to 31-21. She net 10 of her 16 points in the first half.
From there, Petronyte caught fire from the left corner, draining all 10 of her first-stanza points from that corner in the last 1:46 to give Towson the 23-point lead at intermission.
Davidson came out a much different team in the new half, picking up the intensity on both ends of the floor. The offense, led by the stout inside play of senior Mandy Halbersleben (Cincinnati, Ohio) and Monica Laune (Ashland, Neb.), got the 'Cats within 12 points (47-35) on a Laune layup with 12:52 remaining in the game. Both Laune and Halbersleben scored 11 of Davidson's first 13 points to start the new half.
Meanwhile on the defensive end, the Wildcats held Towson to just 1-of-14 shooting to open the new stanza as it went almost eight minutes without a field goal.
Towson though, put the game away with a 21-7 run over the next six minutes, opening up its largest lead at 68-42 when Baker-Brice drove into the lane for an uncontested layup with 6:36 left in the game. The Wildcats got no closer than the final score of 76-58.
Davidson won the battle on the boards with a 43-36 advantage, hauling in 14 of those boards on the offensive glass. The 'Cats also forced 14 second half turnovers, and held the Tigers to 34.5 percent shooting after Towson found the bottom of the net 51.5 percent of the time in the first stanza.
The Wildcats will now turn around and head to South Carolina to play the Gamecocks on Monday at 7 p.m.