UNC Greensboro 71, Georgia Southern 53
GREENSBORO, NC ? Sophomore Amanda Leigh scored a career-best 18 points and UNC Greensboro blew open a tight game in the second half to record its fourth straight win and stay perfect in Southern Conference play with a 71-53 win over Georgia Southern on Wednesday.
Gini Grimsley scored 11 points and Agne Girstautaite added 10 for the Spartans, who evened their record at 5-5 overall and went to 3-0 in SoCon play. Lakiah Hyson, Monique Floyd and TaShama Banner all just missed reaching double figures with nine points each.
Leigh scored 15 of her 18 points in the second half and was 4-for-7 from 3-point range for the game. She was also a perfect 6-for-6 at the free throw line.
The Spartans bolted out of the gate with 10 straight points to open the game, and saw their lead swell to 19-6 with 6:33 left in the first half. Georgia Southern (6-4, 2-1 SoCon) finally found its offense after that, with Candice Ivy scoring five points in a 12-1 run that cut UNCG’s lead to just two at 20-18. Banner got loose for a fastbreak layup to put the Spartans back up four heading into the break, but the Eagles had clearly swung the momentum.
That trend seemed to continue into the second half, as J’Lisia Oburn ? who notched the game’s only double-double with 16 points and 15 rebounds ? dropped in a layup to draw the Eagles within two just 30 seconds in.
That’s when Girstautaite, who entered the game just 8-for-33 from the free throw line, gave the Spartans a big boost, knocking down a pair of foul shots to ignite a 13-5 run to get the UNCG lead back into double digits at 35-25 less than five minutes into the second frame.
After the teams traded buckets, Banner picked Jamie Navarro’s pocket and took it the other way for another fastbreak layup to make it a 12-point bulge. Layups by Ivy and Girstautaite kept the lead at 12 before Ashley Melson’s layup brought it back to 10.
Leigh then got a steal and a 3-pointer and Banner victimized Melson for another steal and breakaway bucket on the Eagles’ next possession as UNCG pushed its lead to 15 at 46-31.
GSU would close it to 11 points with just over 10 minutes to play, but Girstautaite again sank a pair of free throws, and the rout was on. The Eagles got no closer than 12 the rest of the way.
Girstautaite and Floyd both scored all their points in the second half, with Floyd knifing through traffic in the lane for a pair of nifty layups after intermission. Leigh also heated up as the game wore on, scoring 12 of her points in the final seven minutes of action.
“The first half wasn’t as good for me, and I knew I had to pick it up in the second half,” Leigh said. “I only had three in the first and none of my shots were falling. I just had to pick up my own confidence.
“I have to keep shooting. If I stop shooting, then I take my own self out of the game. So I keep telling myself, ?I’m a shooter, and they’ll eventually drop.’”
Georgia Southern easily won the battle of the boards, holding a 44-31 rebounding advantage, but the Spartans forced 24 turnovers and turned them into 25 points to more than compensate. The Spartans led wire-to-wire for the second straight game after also never trailing against Fordham on Saturday.
“We did not rebound well in the first half,” UNCG coach Lynne Agee said. “They’re very aggressive, very physical. They’re obviously strong bodies. I was real disappointed at the half, so we kind of went after them at halftime and challenged our post game. I thought in the second half, we came out and did a much better job.
“Leigh obviously shot the lights out, so that helped, no question. I thought we were stronger in the paint, and I thought we did a real good job in our man-to-man defense.”
The Spartans are 3-0 in SoCon play for the first time since starting the 2001-02 season with an identical record. The four-game overall win streak is the longest for UNCG since a six-game spurt from Feb. 3-19, 2007.
UNCG takes its final break from SoCon play this weekend at the Orange County Clash in Irvine, CA. There, the Spartans will face host UC Irvine on Sunday at 5 p.m. and will play either Illinois State or Western Michigan on Monday before returning to league action for the duration of the season. Georgia Southern heads to Cullowhee, N.C. to take on Western Carolina Sunday (Dec. 21) afternoon at 4 p.m.
Chattanooga 70, Elon 51
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. --- Chattanooga forwards Shanara Hollinquest and Erin Ogan each posted double-doubles to lead the Lady Mocs to a 70-51 win over Elon. It was UTC’s fourth Southern Conference win of the season and 26th consecutive.
The Lady Mocs got out to a slow start and went just 11-for-30 in the first half and carried a four-point lead into halftime at 31-27.
“I think in the first half we were a little too in love with the 3-point attempts,” Lady Mocs head coach Wes Moore said. “At halftime we made sure we refocused on going inside and getting the ball to Shanara. Making sure she had some touches before we jacked it up.”
The Lady Mocs were 4-of-18 from the perimeter in the first half, but settled down in the second making 5-of-11 for nine in the game on 29 attempts. Chattanooga also got more shots to fall from elsewhere on the floor in the second half and put 39 points on the board making 15-of-33.
“We wanted to come out with a lot of energy and take control of the game, but that didn’t happen,” Hollinquest said. “I think we became comfortable in the second half.”
Hollinquest made a layup to start the second half, but Chattanooga didn’t score again for nearly three minutes and allowed Elon to get within two points at 33-31 on a layup from Courtney Medley. However, Hollinquest would turn on the offense to get the lead back up to seven points on a pair of layups and a free throw.
While Chattanooga’s offense seemed to move into a higher gear in the second half, the Lady Mocs defense held the Phoenix to 24 points. The two teams each grabbed 18 rebound in the first half, but UTC outdid Elon 27-19 off the glass in the latter stanza.
“I thought our defense saved us tonight,” Moore said. “We went zone a couple of possessions [to start the second half] and played a little softer defense to keep them in front of us and I thought that worked well.
The Lady Mocs continued to push the advantage in the second half and steadily built its lead to double digits. LaCondra Mason hit a layup with 8:04 to play to spark a 13-0 run that was capped off by a 3-pointer from Tagan Hatchet with 4:49 to play to give Chattanooga a 62-40 lead.
Hollinquest led all scorers with 20 points and 12 rebounds, her third of the year, while Ogan had 13 points with 11 boards for her second double-double this year. Chattanooga improves to 7-4 overall and 4-0 in league action while the Phoenix fall to 1-9 overall and 0-4 in SoCon play.
Hatchett matched her season high with 10 points on the night with a pair of 3-pointers and three assists. Tenisha Townsend, with a pair of second half 3-pointers, had eight points in the win with three assists.
Chattanooga had 45 rebounds on the night to Elon’s 37 and got 17 points from the bench compared to the Phoenix’s five.
The Lady Mocs will travel to Cancun, Mexico for the Caribbean Classic this weekend. Chattanooga will face San Francisco at 2 p.m. Eastern time Friday, Dec. 19 and Missouri State on Saturday at 4:30. All games can be heard live on the radio at WDOD 1310-AM or free online at the official website of Chattanooga athletics, GoMocs.com.
Elon continues its road swing with a Friday night contest at Samford. Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. ET (7 p.m. CT).