Auburn 62, Georgia Southern 56
AUBURN, Ala. - A 24-9 Georgia Southern run in the second half pulled the Lady Eagles to 56-54, but Auburn held out for a 62-56 final score Tuesday night (November 24) in Beard-Evans-Memorial Coliseum. J'Lisia Ogburn led Georgia Southern with 11 points, all coming in the second half, as the Lady Eagles outscored the Tigers, 35-26, in the final 20 minutes. With the loss, the Lady Eagles dropped to 1-2, while Auburn improved to 3-2.
"We're better than we were two weeks ago, certainly," said head coach Rusty Cram. "We have some younger kids that are stepping up and we don't know who going to be any night. But at this stage, everything is happening that we want to happen. We have to keep getting better and continue to get better with every game."
Coming out of halftime, Ogburn (Dublin, Ga.), scoreless in the first half, immediately picked up four points to open the second frame, setting the score at 38-25. Jamie Navarro (Naples, Fla.), also scoreless in the opening stanza, created the game's second old fashioned three-point play just under the 17 minute mark for a 40-28 score. KeKe Carrier pushed the score back to 44-28, before Carolyn Whitney (Duluth, Ga.) took a trip to the charity stripe, connecting on both ends.
Kayla Dayton (Monroe, N.C.) picked up her second bucket of the game at 14:22 to jumpstart a 9-2 Lady Eagle run that would grow to a 22-9 run over eight minutes. Dayton pulled Georgia Southern to within 10 points at 49-39, before Dayton cut the lead to single digits, 51-43. Navarro's two made attempts from the free throw line at 8:06 made it a six-point ballgame, 53-47. Soon after, Ogburn made it a three-point game with a three-point effort with a jumper and free throw, 53-50.
Alli Smalley hit a three-pointer as Auburn tried to widen its lead back, but the Lady Eagles continued to put on strong defense, cutting the score to two points, 56-54, with a Dayton bucket. Smalley set the stage for a 58-54 Auburn lead with three minutes left to play before the Tigers and Lady Eagles traded buckets for a 60-56 tally with 1:03 remaining. Smalley, visiting the free throw line with 20 seconds left, earned Auburn a 62-56 final score.
For the game, Georgia Southern shot 41.8 percent from the floor to Auburn's 52.1 percent. The Tigers committed 22 turnovers, allowing the Lady Eagles to pick up 16 points on Tiger mistakes. Auburn had four players in double digits, led by Carrier with 17. Jordan Greenleaf pulled down a team-high six rebounds.
Recording 12 steals in the game, four from senior Jessica Geiger (Stone Mountain, Ga.), Georgia Southern scored 21 points off the bench led by Dayton's nine points.
In the first half, Carrier was responsible for half of Auburn's points by the first media timeout, collecting six points off three buckets all in the paint for a 12-4 lead. Janay Wilson (Warner Robins, Ga.) cut the Lady Eagle deficit to six points with a lay-up at the 12:28 marker, closing the score to 17-11. The Tigers took an 11-point lead off a three-pointer from Smalley before Geiger responded with one from beyond the arc to keep the margin of difference, 22-14.
Auburn held a 24-14 lead for nearly four minutes of scoreless basketball before Carrier ended the drought arranging an old-fashioned three-point play for a 27-14 lead. Dayton picked up a trey to push the score to 30-19, but Blanche Alverson quickly gave the Tigers a 15-point lead, 36-21, draining her fourth trey of the half at the halftime buzzer.
Both teams struggled from the charity stripe in the first half, going a combined 2-11 with both teams picking up one from the line. Auburn's offense was produced by three Tigers in double digits as Alverson led with 12 points all off treys, Carrier owned 11 points and Nicolle Thomas contributed 10 points. The Lady Eagles distributed their offense with Geiger leading with five points.
Georgia Southern returns to the court at the Omni Hotels Classic in Boulder, Colorado. The Lady Eagles take on the Colorado Buffaloes on Friday, November 27 at 7:00 p.m. (MST).
Gardner-Webb 70, Appalachian State 58
BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. - Appalachian State University women's basketball outscored Gardner-Webb by six points in second-half action and shot 54 percent from the field, but was unable to overcome an 18 point halftime deficit as the Mountaineers fell to the Runnin' Bulldogs for the third straight season Tuesday evening at the Paul Porter Arena. With the loss, Appalachian drops to 1-2 on the season having now lost two straight contests, while Gardner-Webb improves to a stout 4-1 overall and is now on a four game winning streak.
After trailing 42-24 headed into the intermission, Appalachian came out on fire in the opening minutes of the second half, as the Apps outscored GWU 9-2 to make the score 44-33 just four minutes into action. Freshman Courtney Freeman paced the offensive attack, hitting two layups and Sam Ramirez contributed as well nailing a trey to open second half play.
The Mountaineers continued with their deadly offensive assault as Catherine Williams, Anna Freeman and Ashlen Dewart all chipped away at the deficit to cut the Runnin' Bulldogs lead to just nine points.
Ramirez and Courtney Freeman tied for a team-high 12 points, while Dewart recorded 10.
Just as it seemed ASU was going to stage a comeback, back to back three pointers from Dominique Hudson and LaTroya Pope were too much, pushing GWU's advantage to 64-49 with a little under five minutes to go.
Kelsey Sharkey drained the next five points of the game, but a final Pope trey at the 1:15 mark sealed Gardner-Webb's 12 point win.
It was a tale of two halves, as Appalachian tallied the first five points of the game, but a 10-0 run coupled with a 6-0 run by the Runnin' Bulldogs was all the Black and Gold could handle, falling behind 26-11 with Monique Hudson unstoppable from behind the three point line. Hudson drained three of four from behind the arc, totaling 11 points on the evening.
Margaret Roundtree was strong on the offensive front for Gardner-Webb as well, scoring a game-high 17 points, to go along with three assists and two turnovers.
Appalachian looks to snap the two game skid, as the Black and Gold travel to Pittsburgh, Pa. for a Thanksgiving Tournament hosted by No. 24 Pittsburgh. The tournament tips off for the Mountaineers Friday November 27, as the Apps take on the nationally ranked Panthers at 1 p.m. in the Petersen Events Center.
Maryland 76, Samford 49
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The Samford women's basketball team fell behind early and could not catch up as the Bulldogs suffered their first loss of the season, 76-49, Tuesday evening at Maryland.
"I was really disappointed in the way we started the game," Samford head coach Mike Morris said. "I was disappointed in the way we responded in the first 10 minutes and that is the head coach's responsibility, to have your team prepared to fight and we weren't. I was pleased with the last 30 minutes of the game when we played them, relatively even. But, I think the game was decided in the first 10 or 12 minutes."
Samford was led by Savannah Hill with 14 points and seven rebounds. Paige Anderson had 10 points and five rebounds, while Emily London added 10 points and four rebounds. Hannah Dawson tied Hill for the team lead in rebounding with seven.
For Maryland, Lynetta Kizer scored 20 points, making 8-of-8 shots from the floor. Tianna Hawkins scored 14 points for the Terrapins, while Dara Taylor and Lori Bjork added 11 points each.
After Samford grabbed an early 2-1 lead, Maryland scored the next 16 points to take a 17-2 lead with 13:55 to go in the first half. The Terrapins pushed their lead out to 24 points at 30-6 with 9:08 left in the opening half.
Samford came back to cut the lead to 20 at 34-14 with 7:21 to go in the half following a three-point play by London. Maryland took a 43-23 lead into halftime.
In the second half, Maryland pushed its lead out to as much as 29 at 62-33 with 9:53 to play. Samford then went on a 10-2 run to cut the lead to 21 at 64-43 with 6:27 to go in the game.
Samford could get no closer than 21 the rest of the way as the Terrapins came away with the 76-49 win over the Bulldogs.
As a team, Samford shot 35.8 percent from the floor, compared to Maryland's 50.8 percent. The Terrapins made 44.4 percent of their three-point attempts, while Samford made 23.5 percent of its three-pointers.
With the loss, Samford drops to 3-1 on the season. Maryland improves to 4-1 with the win.
Samford will return to action on Friday and Saturday when the Bulldogs take part in the UAB Thanksgiving Classic. Samford will take on North Texas on Friday at 4 p.m., and Norfolk State on Saturday at 1 p.m. from UAB's Bartow Arena.
Cincinnati 67, Western Carolina 54
ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Western Carolina women’s basketball (1-3) dropped the opening game of the Carrs/Safeway Great Alaska Shootout on Tuesday, with a 67-54 loss to Cincinnati (3-1). The Catamounts fall to the consolation round of the tournament, facing Coastal Carolina at 6:30 p.m. Eastern Time Wednesday in Sullivan Arena.
Sophomore guard Kaila’Shea Menendez tied her career-high with a game-leading 20 points coming off the bench. She was one of two Catamount players who scored in double figures, as junior Emily Clarke added 14 points.
The Catamounts came out on fire, scoring nine un-answered points to start the game. Cincinnati answered with 11 uncontested points of its own to take a two-point lead. The fifth tie of the first half came with 2:44 remaining as the score was knotted at 19. Clarke drained a three-pointer to give Western Carolina the lead, but a jumper and a three pointer by the Bearcats gave the Bearcats a two point lead.
Menendez quickly answered with a jumper of her own, forcing the sixth tie of the first half at 24. A pair of free throws by Cincinnati’s Stephanie Stevens gave the Bearcats a two point advantage, 26-24, at the half.
The Catamounts continued to contest and push Cincinnati to start the second half. Senior forward Kristen Feemster hit a lay-up in the first 30 seconds for the seventh tie of the contest at 26. The Catamounts took its final lead of the game off a jumper by Clarke, to make the score 28-26.
A three-pointer by Clarke with 16:26 remaining tied the game at 33, the eighth of the game. Roudebush answered for the Bearcats with a three-pointer of her own and Cincinnati never trailed again.
Cincinnati built as much as a 15 point lead with 3:10 left in the game but Western Carolina continued to fight. The Catamounts scored six unanswered points to trim the Cincinnati lead to nine, 61-52, with 1:47 remaining. It was then WCU began to foul and the Bearcats went 6-of-7 from the charity stripe in the final minute to keep the Catamounts at bay.
Western Carolina had a season-low four turnovers in the game but was outrebounded 43-28 by Cincinnati.