CHARLESTON, S.C. - No. 5 seed College of Charleston used 58 percent field-goal shooting in the second half to pull away from No. 4 seed Georgia Southern, securing a 65-53 victory, Saturday morning (Mar. 8) at the North Charleston Coliseum.
The Cougars (14-15, 9-9 SoCon) advance to the Southern Conference semifinals and will play top-seeded Chattanooga, Sunday at noon, in the tournament semifinals.
Georgia Southern’s season comes to a close with a 17-13 overall record (13-5 SoCon), which is its best record since the 2002-2003 season when the Lady Eagles went 20-10.
Charleston placed three in double-figures; Tonia Gerty led all scorers with 16 points, and she was followed by Jill Furstenburg and Ashley Scott with 12 points, apiece.
The Lady Eagles couldn’t make up for a combination of a 29-percent showing from the field and a 46-28 loss in the rebounds category.
Meanwhile, Charleston’s 47.5 percent shooting, partly realized by its reserves outscoring the Lady Eagles 27-12 proved to be too much in the end.
Georgia Southern started out strong as the team, producing an 8-5 lead at the 15:40 mark. Atwood was responsible for seven of GSU’s initial points, including a three-pointer to start the game’s scoring.
Both teams went cold during the next four minutes, but Whitney was able to extend the GSU lead to six points on a triple and the Lady Eagles held an 11-5 advantage at the 11:18 mark.
After the Cougars closed the lead to just three points on a triple by Brooke Kotcella, Atwood hit a pair of buckets to give the Lady Eagles their largest lead of the game, 15-8 with 8:48 remaining in the first half.
Charleston was able to tie up the score 15-all after using a 7-0 run over the next four minutes, but Georgia Southern didn’t give up the lead for the remainder of the half and the Lady Eagles went into the break with a 23-22 lead.
Atwood scored all of her 11 points in the first stanza on 5-of-8 field-goal shooting. Tonia Gerty led the Cougars with seven points at the break. Both teams struggled from the field with GSU making 9-of-23 (.391) from the field, while CofC hit 8-of-21 (.381) field goal attempts.
In second half play, Charleston used an 11-2 run coming out of the locker room to take a 33-25 advantage at the 15:36 mark. Its first lead of the game, 26-25, came at the 18:19 mark on a fast break layup by Sarah Moye.
Charleston led by 10 points, 37-27, five minutes into the second half, but the Lady Eagles struggled to overcome its 23 percent second-half shooting and the Cougars held on to the lead for the remainder of the contest.
Down by 13 with two minutes remaining, Georgia Southern showed its resilience by going on an 8-1 run, closing the gap to just six points with 1:11 remaining. But the late rally came up short as the Cougars spent the remainder of the game on the charity stripe, making nine of 10 free throws.
Senior Shawnda Atwood and sophomore Carolyn Whitney both scored a team-high 11 points for Georgia Southern. Senior Tiffany Brown tallied 10 points and three steals.
No. 6 Elon 68, No. 3 Davidson 49
Box Score
Photos
NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C.- Kitara McMoore scored 19 points and added 12 rebounds to guide Elon to a 68-49 win over the third-seeded Davidson Wildcats in the quarterfinals of the Southern Conference Women’s Basketball Championships. This marks the second time since joining the Southern Conference that the Phoenix have defeated Davidson. Elon advances to the semi-final round for the first time since the 2003-04 season when they defeated East Tennessee State in the first round before falling to Chattanooga.
The win improves Elon to 12-19 on the season that includes a 6-12 mark in league play.
Davidson concludes their season with a 19-11 record and 13-5 in the Southern Conference.
“We really executed the game plan and I give the players the credit,” said head coach Brenda Paul. “They have played very well the last two weeks of the season. At tournament time, you have to throw people something a little bit different and I think we did that.”
Elon jumped out to an early 6-0 lead to begin the game, Davidson cut the Phoenix lead to one with 14:56 remaining in the half off a three-point basket by Honna Housley. McMoore answered with a layup to extend the lead to three.
The score tied three times over the next three minutes before a two-point basket by McMoore gave the Phoenix the lead for good at the 21-16 mark with 5:42 left the play in the first half.
Davidson scored six of the final 10 points of the half, that included first-team All-SoCon Mercedes Robinson’s only bucket of the half, but the rally would not be enough as Elon entered the half with a 25-22 lead.
McMoore opened the half with a layup that was followed by first-team All-SoCon Tierra Bumbrey’s two free throws to give the Pheonix a 29-25 lead.
Davidson strung together a 10-5 run that brought the score within one at 36-35 with 11:50 left in the game. A layup followed by a free throw by Elon’s Ursyla Cotton ended the Wildcat threat.
With 7:10 remaining in the game, Katie Whidden scored her first points of the game to give Elon a 12-point lead at 51-39. Elon put together at 14-5 run to give the Phoenix a 21-point lead, their largest of the day. A layup by Davidson’s Katie Hamilton that was followed by a three-point shot by Robinson ended the Phoenix surge to cut the lead to 16. Tiffany Davis scored the final three points of the game with a layup and a free throw to seal the win for Elon.
Elon had four players in double-digit scoring that led to a 45.6-percent mark from the field. Davis added 15 points, while Bumbrey and Nicole Allison accounted for 12 and 11 points, respectively.
Amber Wall grabbed nine rebounds in addition to McMoore’s 12 to lead the defensive effort by the Phoenix. Elon controlled the boards, out-rebounded Davidson 43-33.
Housley led Davidson’s offensive attack going 5-9 for 13 points. Robinson added 12 points, 10 of which came in the second half, while also grabbing a team-leading six rebounds.
Elon returns to the hardwood Sunday, March 9 at 2:30 when they face the second-seeded Western Carolina Sunday at 2:30 p.m. The last meeting between the Phoenix and the Catamounts was a dramatic 4OT 101-102 loss. Elon will enter the game having won five of its last six games. The game will be televised on SportSouth.