Georgia Southern 62, College of Charleston 39
Charleston, S.C. ? The Georgia Southern Eagles outscored the Cougars 34-10 in the second half to come back from a halftime deficit and defeat the College of Charleston women’s basketball team, 62-39, in action in front of 317 fans at the John Kresse Arena.
Charleston, which lost for the first time this season after leading at the half, fell to 12-12 overall and 8-6 in the Southern Conference. Georgia Southern improved to 16-9 and 12-2 in the league.
Georgia Southern opened the second half with a 15-1 run, the first Cougar basket of the half coming at the 12:07 mark with a layup by Nikki Williams. Charleston only scored two more baskets the rest of the game as the Cougars were outscored 34-10 in the last 20 minutes, shooting on 11.1 percent, to take the eventual 62-39 loss.
The first half was neck-and-neck the entire 20 minutes, with neither team leading by more than three points during the stretch. Charleston went into the locker room leading 29-28. Both teams shot fairly evenly with CofC holding the edge, 37.5 to 36.7 percent.
Jill Furstenburg led the Cougars with 12 points, while Sarah Moye followed with eight. Moye, Williams and Furstenburg all had eight rebounds to lead the team. Shawnda Atwood led the Eagles with 18 points, followed by Ashley Melson with 13. Leading in rebounds was J’Lisia Ogburn with nine.
Charleston finished with 25.4 percent on the afternoon while the Eagles finished with 41.8 percent, after firing 28.0 percent in the second half. Georgia Southern and Charleston were even on turnovers, 40-40.
The College of Charleston next hosts Chattanooga, Feb. 23 at 7:00 p.m. Georgia Southern travels to Western Carolina the same day at 12:30 p.m. in a game that will be televised live on SportSouth.
Elon 72, Appalachian State 52
BOONE, N.C. ? Appalachian State missed its first 12 shots from the floor Saturday afternoon and could not rebound as Elon came away with a 72-52 triumph to pull into a tie for sixth place in the Southern Conference.
Elon built up a 14-0 lead before Whitney Tossie knocked down a long jumper to put ASU on the board at the 13:40 mark.
The bucket gave her 1,201 points for her career, and a pair of early rebounds gave her 400. The senior guard went on to score seven of the team's first 11 points.
Elon (8-18, 3-11) drained five three-pointers and shot 55.6 percent from the field to take a 44-19 halftime lead. The Mountaineers recovered from the early shooting woes to sink eight of their next 21 shots to end the half with a 24.2 shooting mark.
Tiffany Davis led four Phoenix players in double figures with 16 points on 5-off-8 shooting from the floor. Tierra Bumbrey chipped in with 15 points while Kitara McMoore and Shashonna Moore tallied 12 points apiece. Elon also outrebounded ASU, 44-37.
Sam Ramirez drained the first ASU three-pointer of the game at the 10:50 mark in the second half. The freshman finished with 12 points on 5-for-7 shooting. The guard accounted for both of the team's three-pointers in the game.
Courtney Cunningham helped out offensively, with a career-high 10 points on 4-for-7 shooting. The senior also added six rebounds in 29 minutes.
Appalachian (6-19, 3-11) cut the lead to 18 points with six minutes to play, the smallest deficit since the first half. Three Tossie free throws closed the game to 15 points at 60-45, but the home team was unable to pull any closer as the Phoenix came away with a 72-52 win.
Following the 0-for-12 start from the floor, Appalachian finished the game on a 21-for-50 (42 percent) run, and shot 33.9 percent for the game. Elon shot 43.9 percent from the floor in the game and 17-for-25 from the free throw line.
Tossie finished the game with 16 points which propelled her into the career top-ten list for points at Appalachian. With 1,215, she moves ahead of former teammate Kiki Conyers (2002-06) for ninth place.
The senior entered the game just eight steals shy of Shannon Spencer's record of 341, and picked up her only steal of the game late in the second half.
The Mountaineers return to action on Tuesday as UNC Greensboro visits the High Country for a 7 p.m. matchup while Elon heads to Davidson Monday night with tipoff set for 7 p.m.
Western Carolina 87, Wofford 65
CULLOWHEE, N.C. ? Western Carolina’s 87-65 win over Wofford, Saturday in the Ramsey Center, was an historic one for the Lady Catamounts, as the club recorded its 20th win of the season ? the first time in school history a women’s basketball team has put together back-to-back 20-win seasons. The Lady Catamounts improve to 20-6 and 12-2 in Southern Conference games, while Wofford falls to 9-15 and 2-11 in the SoCon.
The Lady Catamounts tied their season-high for consecutive wins at six straight and also won their sixth straight at home. The 12-2 mark in the Southern Conference keeps Western Carolina in a tie for second place with Georgia Southern which also has the same record in conference play.
The score was tied nine times and the lead changed eight times before Western Carolina built a slight advantage in the final minutes of the opening frame.
Tied at 28 with 53 seconds left in the first half, junior Kendra Eaton hit one of two free throws to give Western Carolina the lead. The Lady Catamounts pushed the lead to three, 31-28, when Chevon Keith pulled down an offensive rebound and tipped the ball in with 32 seconds remaining. Wofford attempted to cut the lead to one point but Kate Dempsey missed a lay-up with nine seconds left and Keith got the rebound to end the half.
It was still nip and tuck to start the second half. Western Carolina built an early five point lead when Jessika Johnson hit a lay-up to start the final 20 minutes of the game. Wofford answered with a jumper by Kathlyn Varno to cut the lead back down to two, 33-30.
Wofford would take the lead two more times before Western Carolina took it back for good. With the Terriers up by one point, 40-39, Lady Catamount Kristen Feemster picked up a steal and sophomore Heather Swayne converted with a lay-up for the one point lead, 41-40. Western Carolina would never trail again.
Western Carolina was holding on to a tenuous 54-50 lead when the Lady Catamounts exploded. The club went on a 12-1 run to pull away from the Terriers. Western Carolina was 4-for-4 from the free throw line in the scoring run and also had huge baskets from Keith, Lauren Powell and Kendra Carroll.
Wofford still battled and got a lift from Dempsey when she hit a jumper with 5:22 remaining to cut the lead to 13, 66-53. The momentum killer came from Lady Catamount freshman Emily Clarke who hit a three pointer at the top of the key, off an assist by Keith, to push the Lady Catamount lead to 16.
Western Carolina’s second-half explosion can be credited to shooting a scorching 53.7 percent from the field and scoring 56 second-half points. Wofford shot just 34.2 percent in the second half and scored 37 points.
Clarke led the Lady Catamounts with 14 points, the second time in the last three games she has scored in double figures. Junior Lauren Powell was impressive with short-range jumpers which netted her 13 points in the game, as she hit just one three-pointer and was 6-of-13 from the field. Freshman Heather Swayne scored in double figures for the second straight game ending the contest with 11 points and senior Ashley Pellom scored in double figures for the third consecutive game adding 10 points.
Wofford’s Liz Miller led all scorers with 15 points with Kate Dempsey adding 12.
Career-highs were also prevalent in the game for a pair of Lady Catamounts. Senior guard Monique Dawson dished out a career-high eight assists while Feemster pulled down a career-high 11 rebounds. Wofford also got a career-high performance from Mahogony Williams who pulled down a career-high 12 rebounds.
Western Carolina returns to action Monday when the Lady Catamounts host Furman. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. in the Ramsey Center.