UNC Greensboro 74, High Point 69
GREENSBORO, NC ? Lakiah Hyson hit six free throws in the final 42.1 seconds and UNC Greensboro put all five starters in double figures as the Spartans rallied to beat backyard rival High Point on Monday, 74-69 in their home opener.
Monique Floyd (15), Ashley Mullins (12) and Gini Grimsley (10) and Agne Girstautaite (10) all reached double digits, but it was Hyson and her 19 points that stole the show.
With the Spartans (1-3) trailing 69-68, Hyson went to the line for a one-and-one. The junior guard calmly sank both attempts, putting UNCG back on top for the ninth and final time in a game that featured 17 lead changes.
Frances Fields missed a jumper that would have put the Panthers (1-3) back on top and Jurica Hargaves fouled Hyson, putting her back on the free throw line for another one-and-one with 19.2 seconds to go. She again drilled both to put the Spartans up by three.
High Point brought the ball up the court with a chance to tie it, but Grimsley came up with a big steal and Hyson wound up with the ball. The Panthers had no choice but to foul, and with the Spartans in the double bonus, Hyson again hit both of her attempts.
The game was a thriller from the opening tip, as UNCG roared out to a 27-11 lead less than 10 minutes into the game. Mullins made the most of her first career start, hitting back-to-back 3-pointers in the opening minutes and adding a jumper and a steal that led to her own breakaway layup in the run.
The Panthers would creep back into it, however, as they finished the half on a 29-11 run ? capped by Fields’ long, buzzer-beating 3-pointer ? to take a two-point lead into the locker room, 40-38.
A Floyd jumper on the Spartans’ first possession of the second half tied it at 40, but the teams would trade buckets over the next several minutes before a pair of Hyson free throws and a Grimsley three-point play gave UNCG a five-point advantage at 56-51.
The Panthers were far from done, as a Fields 3-pointer ignited a 16-4 run that appeared to put High Point in control with a 67-60 lead with 6:34 to play.
UNCG again had an answer, with Floyd hitting a pair of free throws and Mullins hitting a jumper to cut it to three. Hyson found Grimsley underneath for a layup to cut it to one, and Hyson gave the Spartans a 68-67 lead with 4:09 to play.
A Mackenzie Maier jumper gave the Panthers their final lead of the day at 1:58, setting up Hyson’s heroics.
Hyson, Floyd and Mullins all notched career highs in points on the evening, with Mullins matching her previous high with 10 points in the first half and Hyson eclipsing her previous high of 13 in the second half alone with 14. Girstautaite just missed her career best of 11, set at UNC Wilmington on Thursday.
Floyd put together an impressive stat line with seven rebounds and a career-best six assists on the evening. Hyson was one off her career high with six boards. Sophomore Amanda Leigh had six points, five rebounds and a career-best five assists.
“I’m so proud of the team,” UNCG coach Lynne Agee said.” I thought we really buckled down. We only had 14 turnovers, we scored 74 points ? we did a great job. I think we ended up with five in double figures, so it was a well-played game for us on both ends of the floor.”
The Spartans will host the UNCG Marriott Classic this weekend, taking on Florida Gulf Coast at 3 p.m. Friday and Bowling Green at 3 p.m. Saturday. Winston-Salem State and Bowling Green will square off at 1 p.m. Friday and FGCU and WSSU will play at 1 p.m. Saturday.
Appalachian State 65, Alabama A&M 52
BOONE, N.C. - Frances Hernandez scored a career-high 26 points and Catherine Williams tied a school record with seven blocked shots to help Appalachian State University women's basketball to its first win of the year, 65-52, against Alabama A&M on Monday.
The Mountaineers (1-3) shook off the early struggles from last Friday to score the first 11 points of the game over eight minutes. During the stretch, AAMU missed its first 10 shots. Over the span, Brittany Mixon scored six points while Sam Ramirez dished out three assists.
Mixon fouled out of the game with a season-high 14 points on 5-of-10 shooting to go along with five rebounds in 21 minutes. Ramirez pitched in seven points, five rebounds, four assists and three steals in the victory.
The Bulldogs (2-2) pulled within 21-20 late in the half, but a pair of three-pointers and paint buckets from Williams, the Apps finished the half on a 7-2 run over the final four to take a 28-22 advantage to the locker room.
Williams pulled down eight rebounds in the first half and finished the game with 14 boards to go along with seven points, seven blocks and two steals. Her block total matched Valorie Whiteside's mark, set against Furman in 1985. The team's nine blocks were just one shy of the record, set in 2005 against Western Carolina.
The Apps shot 40 percent in the opening period compared to just 24 percent for the visitors. ASU converted 3-of-8 treys while AAMU missed all six deep attempts. The Apps shot 41.8 percent for the game, sinking 23-of-55 shots. The Bulldogs hit just 28 percent of their attempts on the night.
Appalachian started the second half in the same manner, with a 9-2 run spanning just more than three minutes. Alabama A&M closed the gap with a 9-0 run of its own over the next four minutes. The Bulldogs then tied the score at 41-41 with seven minutes to play before Haley Hackett scored four-straight points to spark an 8-0 run over the next two minutes.
Hackett finished the game with four points and three rebounds over 11 minutes, as she battled foul trouble with four fouls. Sad? Means added a team-high five assists to go along with two points and five boards in the game.
The Mountaineers finished the game on a 24-11 run after the tie, including 13 from Hernandez, who scored half of her points in the final six minutes of the game. She shot 10-for-17 from the floor and 4-of-7 from beyond the arc in 34 minutes. She added three rebounds, three steals and two assists.
Her 26 points were the most since Whitney Tossie dropped 27 against Georgia Southern last March.
ASU recorded a season-low seven offensive rebounds and were out-boarded 47-41 in the game. It was a night of firsts for the Mountaineers, as head coach Darcie Vincent picked up her first win with the Black and Gold. Vincent is 265-104 overall in her 13th season as a coach. Center Karina Mill swatted her first career block in the game to go along with two rebounds, Charmene Means scored her first career point with a second-half free throw.
The Mountaineers play their final pre-conference game of the season on Wednesday at East Tennessee State. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. in Johnson City.
Samford 62, Lipscomb 48
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The Samford women's basketball team improved to 4-0 with a 62-48 win at Lipscomb Monday night at Allen Arena.
As a team, Samford had another strong defensive performance in the win. The Bulldogs held the Lady Bisons to 25.5 percent shooting from the floor and 21.1 percent from three-point range. Samford also forced Lipscomb into 17 turnovers in the game.
"I was very pleased with our team's defensive effort," Samford head coach Mike Morris said. "To hold a team to 48 points on its home floor is a great effort."
Samford was led by Savannah Hill with 15 points and nine rebounds. Chika Okoli scored 14 points and pulled down six rebounds. Karmen Smith added 11 points for the Bulldogs.
For Lipscomb (1-4), Jenna Bartsokas scored 15 points. Cree Nix added 14 points and nine rebounds for the Lady Bisons.
The game went back and forth early in the first half until, with Lipscomb leading 8-5, Samford went on a 10-0 run to take a 15-8 lead with 8:59 to go in the half after a three-pointer by Okoli. After Lipscomb cut the lead to five at 15-10, Samford scored the next five points in a row to push its lead to 20-10 with 7:13 to go in the half after a three-pointer by Hill.
Samford pushed its lead out to 12 at 24-12 with 5:48 to go in the half. With Samford leading, 30-18, Lipscomb scored the final three points of the half, all from the free throw line, and Samford took a 30-21 lead into halftime.
Samford pushed its lead to 11 early in the second half at 34-23, but an 11-0 run by the Lady Bisons tied the score at 34-34 with 11:02 to play. Samford came back with a 9-0 run to take a 45-36 lead with 8:12 to play in the game after a pair of free throws by Megan Wilderotter.
Samford pushed its lead out to as much as 15 points at 56-41 with 1:42 to go after a jumper by Emily London. Lipscomb could get no closer than 10 points the rest of the way as Samford came away with the 62:48 win.
The 4-0 start for Samford ties the best start in program history. The 2004-05 team also won its first four games of the season.
Samford will return to action on Nov. 28 and 29, when the Bulldogs play host to the Samford-UAB Thanksgiving Classic at the Pete Hanna Center. On Friday, UAB will take on Evansville at 5 p.m. and Samford will play McNeese State at 7 p.m. On Saturday, UAB and McNeese State will meet at 2 p.m., and Samford will take on Evansville at 4 p.m.
South Carolina 68, Davidson 47
COLUMBIA, S.C. -- A 13-2 run to open the second half, aided by the outside shooting of Miranda Tate, helped the Gamecocks open up a 20-point lead, and they held off a resilient Davidson Wildcat team to earn a 68-47 win at the Colonial Life Arena on the campus of South Carolina in women's basketball action on Monday evening.
Davidson, playing the fourth of six straight road contests to open the season, fell to 1-3 with the non-conference defeat. South Carolina picked up its first win of the year after dropping games to Penn State and Clemson to start the year, improving to 1-2.
Leading 32-23 coming out of the break, Tate drained a long jumper and two three-pointers for eight of the Gamecocks' 13 points during their 13-2 run to start the new half, forcing a Wildcat timeout after it saw the South Carolina lead balloon to 20 at 45-25 with 14:14 remaining.
Tate led three Gamecocks in double figures with 13 points, hitting for nine of them behind the arc. Lakeisha Sutton followed with 11 points, six of them coming in the last five minutes when South Carolina put the game out of reach, and Demetress Adams rounded out the double-digit scorers with an even 10.
Despite being down by 20, the resilient 'Cats kept fighting and brought themselves within 10 points at 48-38 on a Julia Paquette (Stockbridge, Ga.) layup at the 6:41 mark. Davidson's defense held the Gamecocks to just three points during a seven-and-half minute stretch, while forcing five turnovers.
The lead grew back to 20 (60-40) with another run by the Gamecocks, this time a 12-2 spurt, over the next three minutes, and Davidson got no closer than 17 the rest of the way in falling 67-48.
Hurting the Wildcats again was its costly turnovers. Davidson had 31 for the game, 20 of them coming in the first half, and South Carolina scored 25 points off those miscues. The 'Cats did force a season-high 23 turnovers and pocketed 14 steals on the defensive end.
Senior Mercedes Robinson (Baltimore, Md.) led eight players who etched their names in the scorers book with nine points and 11 rebounds. Robinson matched her career-high total in steals with five, while junior Alex Thompson (Asheville, N.C.) matched her career-best as well with a game-high six.
The first half saw Kristen Johnsen (Wayne, Pa.) sparked a 9-0 run early when she started and finished off the spurt with driving layups to bring Davidson even at 13-13 halfway through the half.
South Carolina countered with its own run, rattling off a 16-4 spurt behind six different players who scored in the rally to give the Gamecocks a 29-17 lead, before Johnsen capped off the half with another layup to bring Davidson within nine at 32-23 at the intermission.
Davidson takes a three-day break before heading to Nashville, Tenn. to play at the Vanderbilt Thanksgiving Tournament, Nov. 28-29. The Wildcats will first play Vanderbilt on Friday at 3 p.m., before finishing the tournament with a contest against either Virginia Tech or St. Joseph on Saturday at 3 or 5 p.m.