College of Charleston 63, Elon 50
CHARLESTON, S.C. - Ericka Williams (Blackville, S.C.) scored 15, while NeShonda McLaurin (McColl, S.C.) posted a career-high 11 points off the bench, to lead the College of Charleston women's basketball team to the 63-50 win over Elon in action tonight in front of 207 fans at Carolina First Arena.
Charleston remained undefeated at home this year with a 4-0 mark and improved to 6-3 overall and 2-0 in the Southern Conference, while Elon dropped to 2-5 and 0-2. The Cougars start the Conference season 2-0 for the first time since 2006-07.
"As a staff we were extremely pleased with our bench play tonight," said Head Coach Nancy Wilson, who improved to 12-4 over Elon. "We got some tremendous play off of our bench and it was definitely a night where it saved us and allowed us to play a good game."
The Cougars controlled much of the second half and kept the lead close to double-digits for most of the 20 minutes. Down by nine with 14:08 to go, Elon's Courtney Medley nailed a three-pointer to cut the margin to six, 39-33 with 12:34 remaining. Cougar Indya Mudd (New Orleans, La.), who posted a career-high eight points, ended the threat quickly with a three-pointer 13 seconds later to take the lead back up to nine at 42-33. That would be the closest the Phoenix would get as they fell by 13, 63-50.
Tied 8-8 with 14:01 remaining in the first half the Cougars, led by eight points from Williams, outscored the Phoenix 21-8 over the next 12 minutes to take the 13-point 29-16 lead with 2:07 on the clock. Elon responded with six unanswered points, fueled by four from Amber Wall, to go into the locker room only down by seven, 29-22.
"They really keyed on our big guards and went at Jade [Hughes] and Tonia [Gerty]. Even though her stats might not look great she played very hard and her defense was strong for us as usual. They were running two or three people at our ball handlers most of the night. They might not have looked like they were at their very best but they faced some strong pressure. "
Scoring was fairly even for the game, with Elon holding the slight edge, 39.6 percent to 39.0. Charleston out-rebounded the Phoenix, 43-30, and had a slight edge in turnovers, 18-22. Charleston posted its second straight double-digit free-throw game, going 13-of-20 from behind the charity stripe. Elon was seven-of-15. The Cougar bench accounted for 31 of the 63 points, while the 16-6 edge in offensive rebounds led the Cougars to the 10-1 second-chance points advantage.
Leading Elon was Ali Ford with 11 points, followed by Kelsey Evans with eight rebounds. Following Williams and McLuarin for the Cougars was Jade Hughes (Spartanburg, S.C.) with eight. Tonia Gerty (Port Orange, Fla.) was just one from her career-high with a team-leading nine assists. Williams had eight rebounds as well to pace the Cougars.
"Erica Williams really set the pace tonight and was a tremendous force for them to deal with."
The Cougars take 12 days off for exams before returning to action at Furman Saturday, Dec. 19 at 3 p.m.
Appalachian State 68, Davidson 59
DAVIDSON, N.C. - Appalachian State University women's basketball led by as many as 18 points, and was able to hang on for a nine point victory Monday evening at Davidson's Belk Arena, defeating the Wildcats 68-59 in the second straight meeting on DC's home floor. The victory marked the first time the Black and Gold handed the Wildcats back-to-back losses on their home court since winning at Davidson in both 2002 and 2003.
With the win ASU also captures its first SoCon victory of the season improving to 3-4 overall and 1-1 in league play and hands Davidson its first conference loss of the 2009-10 campaign, as DC drops to 2-7 on the season and 2-1 in the SoCon.
The Mountaineers posted a 50-34 advantage with a little over 12 minutes to play in the contest, but a 17-6 streak by the Wildcats made it a 56-51 game at the 8:21 mark. Sophia Aleksandravicius paced the Wildcat attack, as she came alive for DC, tallying nine points in the streak.
Aleksandravicius scored a game-high 19 points and hauled in a game-best 16 boards.
Despite Davidson trying to chip away, Appalachian would not relinquish its lead, as Ashlen Dewart (Spartanburg, S.C./Dorman), Anna Freeman (Thomasville, N.C./East Davidson) and Sade Means (Atlanta, Ga./B.E. Mays) all contributed for the Apps on the offensive front.
Final free throws by Sam Ramirez (Fayetteville, N.C./Southview) and Chakeitha Weldon (Atlanta, Ga./Kansas) down the stretch ensured Appalachian's thrilling win.
The score was knotted at the 14 all at 10:56 in the first half, but an 11-2 run by the Mountaineers put the Apps up 25-16. Catherine Williams (Chattanooga, Tenn./Howard) poured in four points during the streak, while Weldon and Dewart each tallied two.
Although she was feeling under the weather, Dewart continued her post dominance scoring in double-figures for the fifth straight game, recording 16 points to go along with five rebounds.
Davidson picked up its pace, scoring six straight to pull within five, but a trey by Ramirez to end the half kept the Mountaineers lead at eight heading into the break.
Ramirez was also impressive on the offensive front, tallying a Mountaineer-best 17 points, while she had three steals and dished out two assists.
Appalachian started second half play on fire pouring in five straight points, but Davidson came storming back to cut ASU's lead as close as five. Strong play down the stretch helped the Black and Gold capture the win.
The Mountaineers now take a 10 day break for final exams and return to action Thursday December 17, as they host former SoCon rival East Tennessee State at 5 p.m. in the Holmes Center.