College of Charleston 85, Elon 55
ELON, N.C. ? Tonia Gerty poured in a game-high 20 points as College of Charleston defeated Elon 85-55 in Southern Conference women’s basketball action Monday night at Alumni Gym. In the process, the Cougars overcame a career-high 16 points and a career-high and contest-best eight rebounds by the Phoenix’s Courtney Medley.
Charleston (6-2 overall, 1-1 SoCon) seized an early 5-0 lead with 16:38 left to play in the first half, following a three-point field goal and a layup by Gerty. Elon (1-8, 0-3) replied by going on a 20-14 run to claim a 20-19 edge on a trey by Medley with 9:58 remaining before the break. The Cougars then went on a 36-11 run to build a 55-31 advantage on a jumper by Nikki Williams with 16:08 to go in the second stanza.
The Phoenix used a 7-2 spurt to trim the deficit to 57-38 on a free throw by Tiara Gause with 12:30 remaining in the contest. Charleston came up with a 13-4 surge to stretch its lead to 70-42 on a bucket by Ericka Williams at the 8:27 mark. Elon scored the game’s next nine points to inch to within 70-51 on a layup by Tiffany Davis, but the Cougars answered with a 15-3 run to fatten their advantage to 85-54 on a three-pointer by Ariel Hatcher with 39 ticks to play.
Charleston won the battle of the boards by a 37-33 margin. Each team committed 21 turnovers. The Cougars shot 59.0 percent (36 of 61) from the field ? 72.7 percent (8 of 11) from three-point range ? and 71.4 percent (5 of 7) from the free throw line while the Phoenix fired 28.3 percent (15 of 53) from the floor ? 26.7 percent (4 of 15) from behind the arc ? and 63.6 percent (21 of 33) from the charity stripe.
“I just hope that our mistakes will be educational,” Phoenix coach Karen Barefoot said. “Failure is education. So I hope that we can just learn and grow. The positive thing was we got to the free throw line. We were aggressive, but we can’t play some of the time. We’ve got to play all of
the time.”
Urysla Cotton pumped in 13 points for the Phoenix, but Charleston outscored Elon 44-16 in the paint, 21-15 off turnovers and 38-25 off the bench while issuing 25 assists. The Cougars received key performances by Ericka Williams (15 points, seven rebounds), Deidra Jones (12 points, five assists), Jade Hughes (11 points), Brooke Kotcella (eight points, seven rebounds) and Nikki Williams (six assists). Gerty tallied five assists.
Wichita State 63, Appalachian State 46
WICHITA, Kan. - The buckets wouldn't fall and foul trouble came early and often on Monday night as Appalachian State University women's basketball fell 63-46 at Wichita State. The Apps shot 28 percent from the floor and did not sink a three-pointer in the game.
Brittany Mixon knocked down three of her first four shots to score the first six points of the game for the Mountaineers before Brittney Spencer drained a jumper to give the Apps an 8-7 lead early on.
Mixon finished the game with 14 points on 5-for-11 shooting with four free throws in the game. The senior had four fouls over 27 minutes as well. She pulled down six rebounds and also added a steal.
Spencer connected on 2-of-6 shots for the night for four points to go along with four assists and a team-high four steals.
From there, the Shockers (5-2) took off on a 6-0 run and extended the lead to 16-9 before Spencer and Frances Hernandez pulled the Apps back to a three-point deficit two times at 13-16 and 15-18. Unfortunately, six points from Marisah Henderson helped WSU to a 26-15 advantage 15 minutes into the first half.
From there the teams traded buckets to end the half, as Wichita State took a 30-21 advantage into the locker room.
The Mountaineers (1-7) shot 29 percent (9-of-31) in the opening 20 minutes compared to 40 percent for the Shockers. The biggest difference came at the free-throw line, however, as WSU made it to the line 15 times for 10 points compared to a 3-of-4 mark for ASU.
Sam Ramirez led the team with five assists and four steals to go along with seven rebounds.
WSU came out firing in the second half, connecting on each of its first three attempts from the floor and pushing the lead to 42-21 over a four-minute span.
The Apps missed their first seven shots of the half before Canesha Edwards sank a jumper in the paint. Sad? Means then hit two free throws and a jumper to bring the score to 44-27.
Edwards led the team with 11 rebounds and added six points. The freshman also had an assist but was sidelined a bit with four fouls. Karina Mill started her second-straight game and fouled out in 12 minutes of play with one assist.
Means scored 13 points on five field goals and added seven rebounds and a pair of steals.
Appalachian cut the lead to 14 points with six minutes to play but would not challenge any further as the Shockers pulled away for the 63-46 final.
The Apps made 9-of-31 from the field and 10-of-15 from the free throw line. It was the first time since last February that the Mountaineers did not record a three-pointer. WSU shot 44 percent from the field and knocked in 16-of-26 free throws. ASU turned the ball over 32 times compared to 25 for the Shockers.
The Mountaineers take a 12-day break for final exams before continuing the road trip with a December 20 meeting at Furman.