Davidson 89, Chattanooga 80 (OT)
DAVIDSON, N.C. - Junior Monica Laune (Ashland, Neb.) dropped in a career-high 20 points to lead six players in double figures and Davidson netted a season-best 52.4 percent of its shots in taking an overtime thriller, 89-80, against Chattanooga in front of a season-high crowd of 962 on Saturday afternoon in Southern Conference women?s basketball action.
The Wildcats halted their 20-game losing streak versus the Mocs to hit the double-digit mark in wins for the eighth straight year as they improved to 10-15 overall and 9-7 in league play. Chattanooga fell back into a first place tie with Samford with a 15-2 SoCon mark and fell to 19-7 overall.
Davidson was a perfect 6-of- 6 from the field in the extra period, including 3-for-3 from behind the arc, and hit all four of its free throws in outscoring Chattanooga, 19-10, for the win.
Davidson, which lead by as many as 12 points in the second half, came out with back-to-back layups by Julia Paquette (Stockbridge, Ga.) and Laune to grab an early 74-70 lead with 3:59 left in overtime.
Shortly thereafter, Chattanooga came back and took a 75-74 lead on a LaCondra Mason layup, before both teams proceeded to trade the lead over the next minute and a half.
Plagued by foul trouble in the second half, Alex Thompson (Asheville, N.C.) then hit her biggest shot of the game when she stuck a step-back jumper from the left wing that broke up an 80-all tie. On the very next Wildcat possession, fellow guard Ashley Lax (Little Rock, Ark.) canned a trey from the left corner and Davidson closed out the extra period with a 9-0 run for the 89-80 win.
Laune, making her third start of the year, helped spark a Wildcat attack by hitting the 20-point mark for the first time in her career on a personal-best 7-of-12 shooting, including nailing a career-best three
three-pointers, and draining all three of her free throws.
All five starters hit the double-figure mark for Davidson as senior Mercedes Robinson (Baltimore, Md.) followed Laune with 18 points, while Thompson, Lax and Mandy Halbersleben (Cincinnati, Ohio) each closed with 13, 12 and 10 points, respectively. Rounding out the six double-figure scorers was Paquette with 12 points to go along with a team-high tying nine boards off the bench.
Shanara Hollinquest and Jenaya Wade-Fray also hit the 20-point plateau with an even 20 points for Chattanooga, while Erin Ogan went for 17 points, with her last three forcing overtime.
With under 10 seconds on the clock, Ogan came off a high screen at the top of the key and fired in a three-pointer to knot the contest up at 70-all with five ticks left in regulation to force overtime.
Davidson started out the game hitting eight of its first 13 shots in grabbing a 21-14 lead, but Chattanooga chipped away, tying things up later at 26-all on an Ogan three-ball with 6:09 left in the first half.
Laune and the OCats kept their hot-shooting going though, as the junior keyed a 12-2 spurt in the last five minutes with her second and third three-pointers of the half for a 37-28 lead that grew to 42-30 at halftime. Laune finished the period with 14 points.
The Wildcats shot 55.2 percent overall in the first half, while their defense held the Mocs to just 33.3 percent, including a 6-of-16 performance from behind the arc.
Hollinquest and Chattanooga started to dwindle down the Wildcat lead though in mid-to-late stages of the second half. The Mocs? leading scorer netted 13 points in the half, including six in a three-minute stretch in the late part of the second period that gave Chattanooga a slim 67-65 lead with 3:04 left in regulation.
Davidson finishes out its home schedule with a Senior Day game against Samford on Monday evening at 7 p.m. Both Robinson and Halbersleben will be honored prior to the game.
Chattanooga will look to rebound on Monday evening when it travels to Appalachian State. The tip is set for 5 p.m.
Western Carolina 66 UNC Greensboro 58 (OT)
GREENSBORO, N.C. ? Lakiah Hyson scored five of her game-high 19 points in the final 16 seconds of regulation and added five more in overtime, but UNC Greensboro could not hold off Western Carolina on Saturday, falling to the Catamounts 66-58.
Gini Grimsley was also in double digits with 15 points for UNCG (9-16, 6-10 Southern Conference), while Agne Girstautaite pulled down 10 rebounds and matched her career high with four blocked shots in the Spartans’ Pink Zone game.
Lauren Powell was the only player in double digits for the Catamounts (14-11, 10-6) with 13 points.
With the Spartans trailing 46-41 with 27.3 seconds left in regulation, Hyson hit a 3-pointer from the corner with 15.7 left to make it a one-possession game. UNCG immediately fouled to put Kendra Carroll on the free throw line, and after Carroll hit both attempts to push the Catamounts’ lead back to four, Grimsley hit a 3 with 8.6 seconds left to make it a one-point affair.
The Spartans would put Western Carolina back on the line, and the strategy worked, as Powell left the door open for UNCG by missing her first shot to make it 49-47 with eight seconds to play.
UNCG raced up the floor with a chance to tie or win it, and Hyson’s pull-up jumper in the lane was good with 2.5 seconds left to knot the score and force overtime.
WCU seized control early in the OT, getting a Kristen Feemster layup to go ahead for good and Jessica Jackson’s 3 from the corner with 3:26 left open up a five-point lead.
Monique Floyd’s layup with 58 seconds left in the extra period would pull the Spartans to within two points at 60-58, but Western Carolina got another Feemster layup to make it a two-possession game.
After Western Carolina’s 30-second timeout, the Spartans went back to work on offense, but Feemster picked off Hyson’s long pass to essentially lock up the win. UNCG was forced to foul from that point, and the Catamounts went 4-for-4 at the line in the final 25 seconds.
“We just couldn’t finish,” Hyson said. “We got enough to get to overtime after being down, but we just couldn’t finish it today.”
The wild finished capped an exciting game that featured 11 ties and six lead changes and neither team leading by more than eight points.
The Spartans jumped out to a 10-2 lead to open the game, with Hyson and Grimsley hitting 3s to key the run. But just like in the first matchup between the two squads in January ? when UNCG led 14-4 early ? Western Carolina gradually chipped away at its deficit and made a game of it.
After Diamond Hunnicut’s layup tied it at 13 with 7:45 to play in the opening frame, UNCG rattled off a 6-0 run to give itself some breathing room. But the Catamounts responded with an 8-2 run of their own, and Kendra Eaton’s 3-pointer tied it at 21, where it would stay going into the locker room.
Neither side could get much separation in the second half, and Western Carolina’s five-point lead at 46-41 was the largest for either side after intermission. But the Spartans were up to the task in the closing minute, getting those clutch buckets from Hyson and Grimsley when they had to have them.
“You just play with intensity,” Hyson said. “You see that you’re down and you just do what you can to get yourself up. Yes, it’s hard and you run out of gas, but you just have to keep on pushing, and me and Gini know that. So we just tried to do that today.”
As has been its Achilles heel all season, UNCG let this one slip away at the free throw line, where the Spartans were just 10-for-23 ? including an 0-for-3 effort in overtime.
Grimsley once again flirted with a double-double, pulling down nine rebounds to go with her 15 points. In her last four games, Grimsley has twice missed double-doubles by one rebound and missed another by two points.
Girstautaite continued her march up the UNCG blocked shots charts, as her four moved her into third place on the Spartans’ single-season list with 38. With 58 for her career, she took over fifth place on that list.
“I wish we could play in regulation the way we play in overtime,” UNCG coach Lynne Agee said. “We’re high intensity, we hit shots like that, and we’ve done that more than once. We’ve had ourselves right at the brink, and then we just hit lulls. We hit lulls and then we hit big shots to keep ourselves in the game. Obviously, we were hoping we’d get one more look, and we let that one get away from us with a bad pass down there.
“They beat us on the boards. They had 10 offensive rebounds in the first half alone. I’m proud of the fact that we don’t quit. We play hard and we don’t quit. We make big shots, but we’re just not solid enough together.”
Saturday’s game was UNCG’s Pink Zone event, which benefited the Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund and UNCG’s Relay for Life.
The Spartans will take on Wofford in Spartanburg, SC, on Monday at 6 p.m.
Western Carolina hosts Elon Monday at 7 p.m.
College of Charleston 75, Wofford 53
Charleston, S.C. ? The College of Charleston women’s basketball team tied a season-high with 10 three-pointers, including a five-for-six effort in the second half, as the Cougars defeated the Wofford Terriers, 75-53, in action this afternoon in front of 211 fans at the Carolina First Arena.
Charleston improves to 18-7 overall and 11-6 in the Southern Conference. The 11 league wins is a record, eclipsing the 10 wins set in 2004-05. The 18 wins is also the most in CofC’s Division I history. Wofford falls to 4-20 and 2-14.
The first 10 minutes of the contest were close and both teams were knotted up at 15 with 10:56 to go before intermission. The Cougars, led by seven points from Nikki Williams (North, S.C.), went on a 14-0 run over the next four minutes to take the 29-15 lead with 6:22 to go. The Terriers cut the margin to 11 with 3:25 remaining but that would be as close as they would get for the rest of the game as Charleston ended the half on a 6-1 run to take the 16-point, 38-22 lead at intermission.
The second half saw the Cougars build a 31 point lead at the eight minute mark before the Terries cut the margin to 19 at 3:18 off a 14-2 run to trail 70-51. Charleston defense stepped it up and held Wofford to just two points the remainder of the game and won by the final 75-53.
Charleston shot 51.8 percent for the game, compared to 31.0 percent for Wofford. Wofford was 21.1 percent from beyond the three-point arc, compared to a season-high 76.9 percentage for the Cougars. Charleston out-rebounded Wofford 41-32 and had one less turnover 21-22.
Wofford went 13-for-20 from the charity stripe, compared to seven-for-10 for CofC.
Williams led all scorers with 14 points, while Jade Hughes (Spartanburg, S.C.) and Tonia Gerty (Port Orange, Fla.) ahd 13 points each. Hughes was a perfect three-for-three from beyond the three-point arc. Williams and Brooke Kotcella (Anderson, S.C.) paced the team with five rebounds each.
Mahagony Williams, Liz Miller and Natalie Gramblin led the Terriers with nine points each. Williams and Miller also had five rebounds to pace Wofford.
Charleston next travels to Georgia Southern Monday, Feb. 17 for a 7:00 p.m. game.
The Terriers return home to host UNC Greensboro Monday evening at 6 pm.
Georgia Southern 66, Furman 57
STATESBORO, Ga. ? Both teams scored 36 points in the second half, but the Georgia Southern women’s basketball team outscored the Furman Paladins 30-21 in the opening half to propel them to a 66-57 Southern Conference victory Saturday afternoon (Feb. 14) in Hanner Fieldhouse. The win snapped a two-game losing streak by the Lady Eagles who improved to 15-10 overall on the season and 10-6 in Southern Conference play.
“We had several people that played well tonight,” said head coach Rusty Cram. “It was good to have J’Lisia [Ogburn] in large numbers and it was nice to have both our post players, J’Lisia and Jessica [Geiger] play well. Samantha [Williams] and Brittney [Nelson] also played really well.”
The Lady Eagles scored 36 points in the paint to Furman’s eight as Georgia Southern outshot Furman 46.4 percent to 34 percent from the floor. J'Lisia Ogburn (Dublin, Ga.) tied her career-high in scoring, contributing 17 points (15 in the second half). Georgia Southern won the edge on glass 40 to 32 as Jamie Navarro (Naples, Fla.) pulled down a career-high and game-high eight boards for the Lady Eagles; Shana Booker and Katie Johnson each secured six rebounds for the Paladins who were led by Melissa Liebschwager with 19 points in the game.
Georgia Southern took the lead, 5-3, when senior Ashley Rivens (Charlotte, N.C.) nailed a long range three at the buzzer of the 17:50 mark, sparking a 13-2 run over the next four minutes to give the Lady Eagles a 15-5 advantage with 13:05 left in the opening half. Georgia Southern opened its lead to 16 points on consecutive buckets from Navarro and Jessica Geiger (Stone Mountain, Ga.) just under the six minute mark. But a three from Furman’s Liebschwager pushed the score to 26-13 just before Geiger and Ogburn combined to give Georgia Southern its biggest lead of the first half at 17 points with 4:16 remaining. The Paladins closed out the opening stanza with an 8-0 run as the Lady Eagles led 30-21 at the half.
Ashley Melson (Newnan, Ga.) led Georgia Southern at the half with four rebounds and seven points, followed by Geiger with six points. The Lady Eagles shot 46.4 percent on 13-of-28 shooting in the opening half to the Paladins’ 28 percent. Liebschwager paced the Paladins in the first twenty minutes with nine points, while Booker led Furman with five rebounds.
Furman cut the lead down to five in the second half before Georgia Southern went on a 7-0 run to widen its lead back to 12 points, 42-30, at the 14:28 marker. But the lead was short lived as the Paladins chipped away at the deficit and blanked the Lady Eagles on a 12-0 run over the next three minutes to even the score at 42-all. With 11:04 remaining, Geiger took a trip to the line, connecting on both to ignite an 11-0 run by Georgia Southern who reopened its lead back to 11 points, 53-42, with just under six minutes of play left.
The Paladins would cut the lead back down to six points twice, but that would be as close as they would get in the remainder of the game as the Lady Eagles secured a nine point win, 66-57. Furman scored 13 points off nine forced errors by Georgia Southern in the second half, but the Lady Eagles scored 22 points (36 in the game) in the paint to the Paladins’ two (eight total).
“We executed really well against the zone for a good length of time tonight,” said Cram. “The kids did a good job tonight.”
Georgia Southern returns to action on Monday, February 16 when they welcome College of Charleston to Statesboro. The Lady Eagles will look to avenge an earlier regular season loss to the Cougars. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m.
The Paladins are off until next Saturday when they entertain UNC Greensboro at 1:30 p.m.
Samford 59, Appalachian State 47
BOONE, N.C.- Appalachian State University women's basketball (7-18, 6-10) held a team under 60 points for the third team this season, but it was not enough as Samford (20-4, 15-2) was able to secure a win Saturday afternoon at the Holmes Center, defeating the Mountaineers 59-47.
Despite playing toe-toe with Samford in the second half, with each team scoring 29 second half points, a 19-4 run in the final 9:43 of the first and nine three-pointers in the contest by the Bulldogs, with their only five field goals of the second period coming off treys, proved to be the difference in the contest.
The Black and Gold battled in the opening minutes of action, and the Apps notched its first lead of the game at the 9:57 mark when Frances Hernandez drilled a trey to put ASU up 14-11. But, Appalachian would be stuck on 14 points and for the next 8:34 were unable to drain a bucket while the Bulldogs scored 19. Karina Mill ended ASU's scoring drought as she hit a layup and the ensuing free throw to put Appalachian down 30-18 at the break.
The 18 first half points tied the lowest ASU had scored in a half all season, with the last time coming back on November 21 against Wake Forest.
ASU outscored Samford 7-3 early in the second half, cutting the Samford advantage to 35-29 with Brittany Mixon scoring four points and Sade Means chipping in two free throws. Means ended the game with 10 points and 11 rebounds, earning her first double-double of her career. The freshman guard also had two assists and one steal.
Appalachian continued with its strong play as Sam Ramirez nailed two back to back jumpers to cut the Bulldogs lead to just three with 10:38 remaining. Ramirez was the Black and Gold's leading scorer with 11 points and a game-high five assists.
Samford came back with an 8-0 run and ASU had a litle under five minute scoring drought to push the lead back to double-digits until Mixon hit a layup to make it 44-35 with 5:16 left on the clock.
Two late three pointers by Emily London and Monica Maxwell put a dagger in Appalachian's attempt for the upset, as Samford was able to pull out the win. London and Maxwell paced the Bulldogs offensively as London had 11 points and Maxwell a game-high 19 points, including three 3 pointers.
The Apps continue with their grueling schedule capping off their four game home stint, as they face SoCon leader Chattanooga, Monday February 14 at 5 p.m. in the Holmes Center.
Samford concludes its road trip Monday evening at Davidson. Tip is set for 7 p.m.