Davidson 71, College of Charleston 55
DAVIDSON, N.C. -- Davidson came back from a six-point halftime deficit by holding College of Charleston to 20 second half points on 7-of-38 shooting, and junior Mercedes Robinson (Baltimore, Md.) recorded her league-leading 14th double-double as the Wildcats concluded the regular season with a 71-55 victory at Belk Arena in women's basketball Southern Conference action on Saturday.
With the win, the Wildcats secured the No. 3 seed in the upcoming SoCon Tournament as they enter the tourney with an overall record of 19-10 and a 13-5 mark in league play. CofC finished out the regular season at 13-15 overall and an even 9-9 in SoCon games.
Robinson led a 42-point second-half charge for Davidson by scoring 14 of her game-high 18 points and hauling in eight of her 10 boards in the half. She finished 8-of-12 from the field, while adding three steals and a block.
Davidson outscored the Cougars, 42-20, in the second half as it shot an even 50 percent (14-of-28) and drained four of its seven three-balls in the half.
Sophomore Alex Thompson (Asheville, N.C.) was right behind Robinson with 16 points, eight of them from the charity stripe (8-of-8) and 11 of them coming in the second stanza. The sophomore, who also dished out six assists, closed out the regular season hitting her last 35 straight free throws, including a 4-for-4 performance in the last minutes to ice the win for the 'Cats.
Trailing 38-29 after a Nikki Williams' three-pointer, Davidson started its comeback on a Robinson layup at the 18:18 mark. Thompson later cut the Cougar lead to 40-38 with two free throws and then on the Wildcats' next possession, sophomore Moncia Laune (Ashland, Neb.) drained a trey from the left wing with 13:35 on the clock to give the 'Cats its first lead, 41-40, since the 9:05 mark of the first half.
Laune had one of her best all-around games of the season. The sophomore showed hustle on the defensive end with two steals and four boards, while on offense, she tied her season-high with nine points and dished out four assists.
The in the closing minutes of the contest, senior Honna Housley (Riceville, Tenn.) halted any idea of a Cougar comeback when after she missed the second of her two free throws, stole the ball off the miss and canned a long jumper in the right corner for a 62-52 lead at the 1:26 mark to force a timeout by College of Charleston.
Though those were the only three points Housley scored in her final game at Belk Arena, they were a dagger to the Cougars' chances of thinking about a comeback.
Prior to the game, Davidson honored its three seniors, Danielle Hemerka (Blackwood, N.J.), Housley and Katie Hamilton (Lilburn, Ga.) for their outstanding four-year playing careers at Davidson.
Hemerka closed out her last game at Belk Arena with nine points, eight boards, two blocks and three steals. Hamilton in just 11 minutes, dropped in seven points and dished out a couple of dimes.
The first half saw six ties and four lead changes, before Charleston used a little 5-0 run to grab a 24-19 lead at the 6:19 mark and went into halftime up 35-29.
The Cougars' were lead offensive by Tonia Gerty with 15 points by hitting all five of her field goals from behind the arc. Williams added a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds.
The Wildcats will now gear up for the SoCon Tournament, Mar. 6-10, in Charleston, S.C. Davidson will play the No. 6 seed on Saturday, Mar. 8, 30-minutes after the conclusion of the 9 a.m. game.
Game Notes: Over the past three years, Davidson is 28-8 at Belk Arena... Davidson has won 13 straight against CofC and has lost just once at home in the all-time series to the Cougars... The Wildcats improved to 10-0 when holding its opponents to under 60 points... For the second straight season, Davidson finished with 10 wins at home as it went 10-2 this year.
Furman 59, UNC Greensboro 55
GREENSBORO, N.C. ? Furman scored the last five points of the game to earn the Southern Conference Tournament’s No. 7 seed with a 59-55 win over UNC Greensboro in women’s basketball action Saturday afternoon.
The Lady Paladins (10-19, 5-13) will face Wofford in an opening round game on Thursday at the North Charleston Coliseum, while UNCG (6-23, 4-14) will be seeded ninth and take on eighth-seeded Appalachian State. The Furman-Wofford game tips off at 3 p.m., followed by the UNCG-Appalachian State game at approximately 5:30 pm. In both of those match-ups, the teams split their regular season meetings, all winning on their respective homecourts. Furman won the tie-breaker over Appalachian State by virtue of its win over third-seeded Davidson on Monday.
Lee Stephens led all scorers with 14 points for Furman. Sara Baker added 11 points and Kendra Berry chipped in with 10, including four of the final five.
UNCG’s Jasmine Byrd had a team-high 11 points to go with six rebounds in her final game at Fleming Gym. Freshman Monique Floyd added 10 points and six boards off the bench. UNCG was victimized by 22 turnovers on the day. Furman finished with 13 turnovers, including just three in the second half.
UNCG senior Brittany Frazier gave the Spartans a two-point lead with 2:09 to play ? the last field goal of the day for the Spartans. Both teams missed shots on their next possession. Furman’s Melissa Liebschwager missed a trey from left corner with 1:21 to go, but Stephens stole the ball at mid-court and was fouled with 1:08 to play. She made both free throws to tie game, 54-54.
UNCG’s Ashley Ling drove to the basket and drew a foul with 55.1 seconds to play. Ling missed the first, but made the second to give UNCG a 55-54 lead. Furman responded, however, when Berry hit a shot in the lane with 38 seconds left to give the Lady Paladins the lead for good, 56-55. UNCG called a timeout with 34 seconds left to set up a play, but Frazier missed in the lane and Dixon fouled on the loose ball rebound with 20.4 second left. Berry connected on both of those free throws to make it a three-point lead.
Following another UNCG timeout, Gini Grimsley missed a long three-pointer with nine seconds left and Stephens was fouled on the rebound. The Spartans looked to maybe get one more crack at it when Stephens missed the first free throw, but she knocked down the second to put the game away.
Crashing the boards right from the outset, UNCG jumped out to an early lead. The Spartans had an 11-3 advantage on the board in the first eight minutes of the contest and that equated into a UNCG 13-8 lead. But following a Furman timeout, the Lady Paladins went on a 9-2 run to regain the lead, 17-15, midway through the half.
Furman extended the lead to six before taking a 30-25 lead into the break. After the early rebounding advantage by the Spartans, Furman held its own on the glass to take a lead into the intermission.
The Spartans turned it up on the defensive end to open the second half. Holding the Paladins scoreless for the first five minutes, UNCG went on an 8-0 run to take a 33-30 lead.
Neither team took a lead of more than five after that. UNCG, which led 37-32 with 13:11 to play, still had a three-point lead before Furman scored five straight to take a 49-47 lead with four minutes left. But two Monique Floyd free throws broke the spurt and knotted the score up once again.
Elon 59, Wofford 47
ELON, N.C. ? Katie Whidden, Tierra Bumbrey and Amber Wall each scored 10 to pace a balanced Phoenix scoring attack as Elon ousted Wofford 59-47 in the Southern Conference regular season women’s basketball finale for both teams Saturday afternoon at Alumni Gym.
The Phoenix (11-19 overall, 6-12 SoCon) also received seven rebounds, four assists and three steals from Bumbrey, six boards from Whidden and five caroms and three takeaways from Wall en route to posting its fourth win in five contests. Meanwhile, the Terriers (9-20, 2-16) were led by Kelsi Koenig’s game-high 12 points.
Elon erupted to a 25-13 lead after a jumper by Whidden with 5:29 left to play in the first half. Wofford retaliated by reeling off six consecutive markers to draw to within 25-19 ? the eventual halftime score ? on a jumper by Laura Depko with 44 seconds remaining before the intermission.
The Phoenix soared out of the locker room, going on a 21-6 run to extend the edge to 46-25 on a three-point bucket by Nicole Allison with 12:02 on the clock in the second stanza. The Terriers answered with a 20-11 tear, pulling to within 57-45 on a lay-up by Koenig with 1:07 to go. However, Wofford could inch no closer the rest of the way.
“Wofford always plays hard,” Elon coach Brenda Paul said. “I give them great credit for having great heart. I felt pretty confident going into this game because we have had some great practices the past couple of weeks.”
Liz Miller posted 10 points, eight rebounds, five assists and four steals for the Terriers. Along the way, Miller established a new Wofford single-season record with her 93rd steal of the campaign. Former Terrier great Libby Corry (1993-94) held the previous milestone of 90 steals in a season for 14 years.
Wofford also received a career-high 10 rebounds, three steals and two blocked shots from Kelly Dwyer. The Terriers’ Mahagony Williams hauled in eight boards and tied a career high with six blocks. Koenig tallied seven caroms.
Wofford out-rebounded Elon 43-40, but committed 28 turnovers to 13 by the Phoenix. The Terriers shot 41.2 percent (21 of 51) from the field while Elon fired 32.3 percent (20 of 62) from the floor.
With the win, Elon earned a bye in next week’s Southern Conference Tournament. The Phoenix, seeded sixth, will face third-seeded Davidson at approximately 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, March 8. Wofford, the tournament’s 10th seed, will face seventh-seeded Furman on Thursday at 3:00 p.m.
Georgia Southern 79, Appalachian State 63
BOONE, N.C. - Seniors Whitney Tossie and Courtney Cunningham closed out their Holmes Center careers with a combined 37 points, but it would not be enough to overcome a second-half surge from Georgia Southern, as the Appalachian State women's basketball team fell 79-63 on Senior Day.
Tossie opened the game in style with a three-pointer followed by a steal and layup to give the Mountaineers an early 5-2 lead. Cunningham then kept the Senior Day theme going as she knocked down a baseline jumper from Robin Colbert.
The senior guard closed out the regular season with 27 points on 9-for-15 shooting in the game. She added eight free throws in nine attempts along with five steals and four assists. Her 1,299 career points rank her sixth on the career scoring list.
The senior duo scored 18 points on 8-for-12 shooting in the first half, as the Mountaineers went to the half tied at 35-35. ASU shot 46.7 percent from the floor in the first half compared to 37.1 for the Lady Eagles (17-12, 5-13).
Cunningham finished the game with a career-high 10 points on 5-of-6 shooting from the floor. The forward added seven rebounds and a pair of steals.
Sophomore GiGi Thomas sank four shots for eight points in the first half, and closed out the game with 11 points on 5-of-13 shooting to go along with three assists.
Neither team led by more than four points in the opening 20 minutes, as the lead changed 12 times and the teams tied nine times.
GSU opened the second half with four-straight points and quickly opened a 47-37 lead just four minutes in. The Lady Eagles doubled their season average with 18 steals in the game, which helped stifle ASU's second-half comeback, as hot shooting from Tiffany Brown extended the GSU lead to 14 points with 14 minutes to play. Brown led GSU with 21 points and five three-pointers.
The teams traded baskets over the ensuing 10 minutes, until Brittany Mixon fouled out at the four-minute mark with 11 rebounds and six points. It was the fifth double-figure rebounding performance of the season for the junior.
Tossie then went off for seven-straight points including an impressive three-point play to pull the Apps within nine at 70-61 with three minutes remaining. ASU never challenged any further in the waning minutes, as the Lady Eagles pulled away for the 79-63 win.
The Mountaineers (8-21, 5-13) will take the show on the road to Charleston, as the team awaits SoCon results around the league to learn its seed in next week's tournament. Georgia Southern will face College of Charleston in the quarterfinals of the SoCon Tournament at 9:00 a.m. Saturday.