Chattanooga 70, UNC Greensboro 53
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. --- In its final contest of 2008, the Chattanooga women’s basketball team ran its Southern Conference win streak to 27 games with a 70-53 win over UNC Greensboro on Wednesday afternoon. The win improves the Lady Mocs’ record to 9-5 and keeps its perfect conference record intact at 5-0. The Spartans fall to 6-8 and 3-2 with the loss.
In the win the Lady Mocs shot 43.4 percent, going 23-of-53 from the field. The team was also effective from the three-point line, shooting 8-of-18 (44.4 percent) from beyond the arc.
Chattanooga was led by junior Jenaya Wade-Fray with a season and game-high 18 points on 4-of-9 shooting from the field. The junior was solid from behind the three-point and free-throw lines in the contest, going 3-of-4 from beyond the arc and 7-of-8 from the charity stripe.
Junior Shanara Hollinquest was the only other Lady Moc to score in double figures with 13. Hollinquest has scored in double figures five straight games, and has reached the double-digit point mark in 13 of the Lady Mocs’ 14 games overall this season. Senior Erin Ogan just missed a double-double with nine points and a game-high 10 boards.
Senior LaCondra Mason had nine points in the win, and sophomore Bailey Dewart, with a pair of 3-pointers, finished with eight. Gini Grimsley led the Spartans with 17 points and was the only UNCG player in double figures.
The Lady Mocs trailed for a mere 1:55 in the contest as the Spartans scored the game’s opening points on a Grimsley jumper. The Lady Mocs responded with a basket from Ogan at the 18:05 would knot the score at two, and from there the Lady Mocs would slowly build a lead to end the half up 37-24.
In the second half UTC would continue to pull away from UNCG as the team led 49-30 with 14:25 to play in the game. The lead would get as big as 29 with 4:40 to play on a 3-pointer from Dewart, giving Chattanooga a 70-41 in lead.
At halftime, the Lady Mocs honored Alex Anderson as one of Wes Moore’s top 10 players in the “Moore in McKenzie, a Decade of Dominance” series. Anderson was drafted by the San Antonio Silver Stars and is currently playing for Hapotel Tel-Aviv in Israel. She averages 20.6 points per game and leads the team with 9.5 rebounds per contest.
The Lady Mocs will return to the court on Jan.3 as the team resumes its Southern Conference schedule with a 3 p.m. doubleheader contest in Statesboro, Ga., against Georgia Southern. UNC Greensboro hosts Davidson at 3 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 5.
Furman 69, Winston-Salem State 52
GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Lee Stephens scored 18 points and registered a career high eight assists to power Furman past Winston-Salem State, 69-52, in women’s basketball action Wednesday on Carolina First Court at Timmons Arena.
Stephens, who on Monday tallied 28 points in a 78-68 road win over Charleston Southern, connected on 6-of-13 field goal attempts and was a perfect 6-of-6 from the free throw line for Furman (7-6), which won for the fourth time in its last five games. Katie Johnson added 14 points and eight rebounds, and Sarah Baker tallied nine points and registered a game-high 10 boards for the Paladins.
Jalesa Byrd scored 16 points to lead Winston-Salem State (0-11), and MaLisa Bumpus followed with 14 for the Rams. Vontisha Woods claimed 10 rebounds for WSSU.
Furman, which never trailed in the contest, connected on just one of its first nine shots over the game’s first three minutes before finding the range on 12 of its final 26 shots of the first half en route to a 33-18
lead following a Baker 3-pointer with 29 seconds to go before intermission.
The Paladins maintained a double digit lead in the second half and upped their lead to as many as 19 points at 50-31 on a layup by Kendra Berry with 10:43 remaining.
Winston-Salem State answered with a 7-0 run, highlighted by a Talnesha Kee jump shot at the 8:40 juncture, to slice Furman’s lead to 50-38 before the Paladins countered with a basket by Johnson and Stephens 3-point play with 7:26 to go for a 55-38 margin.
From that point Furman was never threatened and stretched its lead to 19 points on four different occasions.
The Paladins shot 50.0 percent (15x30) from the field in the second half to finish at 43.1 percent for the game. Winston-Salem State connected on 33.3 percent of its shots (19x57) and just 6-of-29 field goal attempts (20.7 percent) over the game’s first 20 minutes.
Furman claimed a 42-38 rebounding advantage.
The Paladins return to action on Saturday when they entertain Wofford in Southern Conference action. Tipoff is set for 1:30 p.m.
College of Charleston 80, USC Aiken 71
CHARLESTON, S.C. ? Junior forward Brooke Kotcella (Anderson, S.C.) delivered a career-high 24 points on a program-best tying six three-pointers as the College of Charleston women’s basketball team (8-3) defeated No. 18 Division II USC Aiken (7-3) Wednesday afternoon in a non-conference game at the Carolina First Arena in Charleston, S.C.
With the game tied at 51-51 with 8:07 to play in the second half, the Cougars used an 18-8 run that featured three straight three-pointers and eight points from Kotcella to take a 69-59 lead with 4:08 remaining. A pair of free throws and a jumper by senior forward Satu Leppanen closed the gap to 69-63 at the 3:20 mark before 5-2 Charleston mini run pushed the lead back to 74-65.
The Pacers would not go quietly, however, as a pair of layups from sophomore guard Nakia Pinkney and two free throws by senior forward Morgan Johnson fueled a 6-0 run over the next 2:54 that pulled Aiken to within 75-71 with 26 seconds to play. That would be as close as they would get though as the Cougars connected on their final five free throws, four by junior guard Jade Hughes (Spartanburg, S.C.), to ice the game and secure the 80-71 victory.
It was a different story in the first half as the Pacers led much of the way. Following a jumper by sophomore guard Tonia Gerty (Port Orange, Fla.) that gave CofC an 8-7 lead at the 15:40 mark, USC Aiken would regain and hold the lead until Cougars’ junior center Deidra Jones (Irmo, S.C.) connected on a pair of free throws to give Charleston back the lead, 26-25, with 2:01 remaining in the first half.
It would be short lived as the Pacers rallied with back-to-back jumpers on the next two possessions to go up 29-26 before closing out the half tied at 31-31. At the start of the second half, Charleston jumped out to a 36-31 lead behind a jumper by Gerty and three-pointer by Kotcella on their first two possessions before consecutive layups and a free throw by USC Aiken knotted the score at 36-36. Another Kotcella three-pointer with 16:53 to play then gave the Cougars back the lead at 39-36.
A 6-2 Pacers run gave them the lead at 42-41 before a three-pointer by sophomore guard Megan King (Fort Wayne, Ind.) made it 44-42, CofC. Charleston maintained a narrow advantage over the next 5:05 before USC Aiken tied the game at 49-49 with 8:40 to play. A basket by senior forward Nikki Williams (North, S.C.) and a pair of free throws by Pacers freshman forward Lindsay Sundberg made the score 51-51 and set the stage for the Cougars second half run.
Morgan Johnson led the way for USC Aiken with a team-high 20 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field and a 6-of-7 performance at the foul line while Satu Leppanen tallied 12 points. Senior guard Meredith Legg and Lindsay Sundberg each finished with 10 points to round out the double-figure scorers while junior guard Kendra Chandler had a solid all-around performance with five points, a team-high six rebounds and a game-high three steals.
For the Cougars, Brooke Kotcella’s career-high 24 points paced four double-digit scorers and her eight rebounds were a game-high. Kotcella was 9-of-13 from the floor, including a career-high six made three pointers on nine attempts, while Jade Hughes finished with 13 points, all in the second half, and went 8-of-8 from the foul line. Tonia Gerty finished with 11 points and Deidra Jones added 10 points with six rebounds. Nikki Williams chipped in with five points and seven rebounds.
The Cougars return to action on Saturday, January 3, 2009 when they host Samford at 2:00 p.m.