Georgia Southern 62, Western Carolina 50
CULLOWHEE, N.C. ? Western Carolina women’s basketball had its two-game winning streak snapped falling to Georgia Southern 62-50 Sunday in the Ramsey Center. The Lady Catamounts fall to 6-5 and 2-2 in the Southern Conference while the Eagles improve to 7-4 and 3-1 in the SoCon.
Three Georgia Southern players reached double figures in scoring, led by 14 from Ashley Melson. Brittney Nelson added 13 points while Jessica Geiger chipped in 11 markers and a game-high eight rebounds.
Anemic shooting from the field doomed Western Carolina. The club didn’t hit a field goal the first seven minutes of the first half, the drought being quenched by sophomore guard Kendra Carroll how drained a jumper at 12:59 left on the clock. Western Carolina’s first four points of the game came at the free throw line.
Western Carolina took its only lead of the game, 18-17, with 4:57 left in the first half off a jumper by Emily Clarke. Georgia Southern quickly answered with a three-pointer by Brittney Nelson going on an 8-2 run to close out the half to take a 25-20 lead into halftime.
The Lady Catamounts were never able to find their rhythm on the court and Georgia Southern capitalized in the first three minutes of the second half going on a 7-0 run to build a 12 point lead, 32-20. Western Carolina would trim the lead back down to five, 32-27, off a layup by Kristen Feemster but it would be the closest the club would get again in the game.
Western Carolina struggled on the court, shooting just 32 percent from the field and watched as its top scorers, Clarke and Brooke Johnson, were held to single digits. Clarke came close to double figures with nine points but Johnson was held to just one field goal, three points total, and was 0-of-4 from behind the three-point line. Jessica Jackson also had nine points and was 3-of-4 from the three-point line.
The loss also ends Western Carolina’s 12-game winning streak at home.
Western Carolina will take an eight day break for Christmas and return to the Ramsey Center to end its three-game home stand on December 30 taking on non-conference opponent UNC Wilmington. Tip time is set for 7 p.m.
After a break for Christmas, Georgia Southern returns to the court at the FIU Sun in Fun Classic in Miami, Fla. The Eagles will take on the host Panthers at 5 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 29.
UNC Greensboro 76, UC Irvine 71 (OT)
IRVINE, Calif. ? Despite seeing UC Irvine rattle home a jumper at the buzzer to force overtime, UNC Greensboro got a career-high 20 points from Lakiah Hyson and controlled the extra period to pull out a 76-71 win over the host Anteaters at the Orange County Clash on Sunday and run its win streak to five games.
With the Spartans (6-5) holding a 63-61 lead with 2.2 seconds to go in regulation, UCI (3-7) inbounded the ball and got it into the hands of freshman Kiara Belen, whose jumper in the lane hit the back rim and went off the glass and in as time expired.
UNCG didn’t fold, as Gini Grimsley hit a layup on the Spartans’ first possession in the extra frame to put UNCG back on top. The Anteaters answered with a pair of Belen free throws to tie it up before a Hyson layup put UNCG up 67-65. Rebecca Maessen converted a layup of her own to tie it again, but Hyson hit a 3-pointer from the wing to put the Spartans ahead to stay.
With the clock dwindling under two minutes, UCI started to foul, but the Spartans struggled to convert, going just 6-for-13 in OT to leave the door open for the Anteaters. A Grimsley free throw with 30 seconds left gave UNCG its biggest lead of the extra period, 73-67, but UCI’s Keyonna Johnson sandwiched a pair of buckets around a Hyson free throw to draw the Anteaters within three at 74-71 with 5.1 seconds to play.
UCI then put Grimsley back on the line to stop the clock, and the senior knocked down both free throws to lock up the win.
Grimsley finished with 10 points on the day, while sophomore Monique Floyd dropped in 14, just one off her career high. Hyson had six of her 20 points in the overtime period.
“Hyson is just tough,” UNCG head coach Lynne Agee said. “She can take the pressure. She can take the big shot, and that’s what we love about her. She makes it happen and she’s not afraid to pull the trigger.”
From the early going, this game had all the hallmarks of going down to the last possession, and it didn’t disappoint. The Anteaters led by five at the half, 36-31, and expanded their lead to nine, but the Spartans came roaring back. Kendra Smith, Hyson and Floyd had consecutive buckets in a 6-0 run that got UNCG back to within three, and the Spartans refused to let the Anteaters pull away.
Down three at 46-43 with 13:20 play, the Spartans saw Dee Corbett hit a jumper and a layup around a Raquel Theus basket to draw UNCG within one.
After an Amanda Leigh missed 3, Smith grabbed the offensive rebound and was fouled going back up for the stickback, putting her on the line with a chance to put UNCG ahead. Smith hit both of her attempts, putting the Spartans back on top for the first time since holding a 19-17 lead midway through the first half.
UCI would reclaim the lead and stretch it back to four, but UNCG always had an answer, and Floyd’s jumper with 3:28 left put the Spartans ahead for good until Belen’s jumper at the end of regulation.
The Spartans took excellent care of the ball, finishing the game with a season-low 11 turnovers ? only three of which came in the second half and overtime. UNCG forced 22 turnovers by the Anteaters, converting them into 27 points.
“We’re thrilled to death,” Agee said. “We were flat, we didn’t have much legs. This was about guts, determination. We ran out of gas. I’d hoped we’d win it in regulation, so I was a little nervous when it went to overtime. I was afraid maybe we didn’t have enough left, but we played great.”
Maessen scored a game-high 22 points for UCI, while Kirian Ishizaki had 12 and Mary Has had 11.
The game was a physical one with a combined 53 fouls called, and UCI had three players foul out. The Spartans were also battling foul trouble, as Grimsley and Agne Girstautaite both picked up four.
Grimsley was playing in her 100th career game for the Spartans.
The five straight wins are the most for UNCG since a six-game streak from Feb. 3-19, 2007. UNCG will attempt to match that streak when it faces Illinois State in the championship game of the Orange County Clash at 5:30 p.m. Eastern time Monday. The Redbirds downed Western Michigan, 82-51, in Sunday’s early game.
Cincinnati 60, Davidson 42
CINCINNATI, Ohio -- Senior Mercedes Robinson (Baltimore, Md.) tallied her 22nd career double-double to pace the Wildcat women's basketball team, but Cincinnati's Kahla Roudebush countered with 24 points, 14 of them in the second half as the Bearcats handed Davidson a 60-42 setback on Sunday afternoon in Fifth Third Arena.
After being held to just three points at Xavier two days earlier, Robinson found her offensive touch again at Cincinnati. The senior finished the contest 6-of-14 shooting, including a trey, and sank eight of the Wildcats' 13 free throws for 21 points. She hauled in a game-high 13 rebounds to lead Davidson to a 41-37 edge on the glass.
The game saw eight lead changes and the biggest one came midway through the second half that carried the Bearcats to the 18-point win.
Trailing 28-20 at halftime, Davidson stormed back with a 13-4 run to open the second half behind the inside play of both Robinson and junior Julia Paquette (Stockbridge, Ga.). The duo scored all 13 of the Wildcats' points to open the new stanza, highlighted by connecting on three three-point plays to give the Wildcats a brief 33-32 lead with 12:39 remaining in the game.
But Cincinnati regained the lead on a three-ball by Angel Morgan, before Ashley Lax (Little Rock, Ark.) knotted things up at 35-all on a driving layup in the lane at the 11:25 mark.
Coming out of the media time all tied up, Cincinnati proceeded to score 13 straight points and held Davidson without a bucket until the 5:59 mark when Robinson hit a shot from behind the arc as the Bearcats opened up a 48-38 advantage.
Davidson got no closer than the 10 points the rest of the half and Roudebush scored eight of the final 12 Bearcat points for the final score of 60-42.
The Bearcat guard closed the contest shooting 9-of-18 from the field, including hitting a couple of three-balls and drained all four of her free throws for 24 points. She added eight rebounds and three assists to her totals.
Davidson, which shot just 24.1 percent in the first half, opened the game with an 11-3 advantage after two free throws by Cincinnati native Mandy Halbersleben. The senior also added a short jumper in the early going and finished the contest with four points to go along with nine rebounds, one off her career-best.
Jill Stephens guided the Bearcats back though, draining back-to-back three-pointers at one point that gave UC a 12-11 lead with 9:52 remaining in the half.
In a half that saw six lead changes, Alex Thompson (Asheville, N.C.) gave the Wildcats back the advantage later when she rattled home a three-ball, and then Paquette on the next Wildcat possession banked in a layup with 5:40 on the clock to give Davidson a four-point lead at 18-14.
That would be the last lead Davidson had of the half as Roudebush netted eight of the Bearcats' final 14 points of the period and the Wildcats found themselves trailing 28-20 heading into halftime.
Jill Stephens also hit double figures for Cincinnati, scoring 13 points with nine of them coming in the first half.
The Wildcats take some time off for Christmas before hitting the hardwood on Dec. 30 at John M. Belk Arena against Wofford at 7 p.m.