College of Charleston 63, Georgia Southern 43
STATESBORO, Ga. ? Freshman Samantha Williams scored a career high 13 points and was the only Lady Eagle in double figures as the Georgia Southern women’s basketball team dropped a Southern Conference 63-43 decision to College of Charleston Monday night (Feb. 16). Cougar head coach Nancy Wilson recorded her 500th career win as CofC improved to 19-7 overall and 12-6 in conference play. The Lady Eagles dropped to 15-11, 10-7.
“Samantha [Williams] did everything right tonight, even when she turned the ball over,” said head coach Rusty Cram. “The fight came out in her tonight as she was trying to get everyone else up. She was the only thing positive of the night.”
Despite both teams committing 11 turnovers in the opening half, College of Charleston capitalized on Georgia Southern’s errors, scoring 18 points off 11 the turnovers committed by the Lady Eagles. The Lady Eagles were scoreless from the 7:03 mark after Williams (Kingsport, Tenn.) nailed her second three of the night as CofC ended the opening half on an 11-3 run over the final 6:56 of action which saw five turnovers by Georgia Southern. The run allowed the Cougars to take a comfortable 12 point advantage, 33-21, at the half.
Georgia Southern opened the contest taking the early 7-4 advantage off buckets from Jessica Geiger (Stone Mountain, Ga.) and Jamie Navarro (Naples, Fla.). But College of Charleston quickly tied the game for the second time in the night with a three from Jade Hughes at the 15:00 minute mark. The Cougars took their first lead of the game when Deidra Jones had a three point affair with a trip to the line and Tonia Gerty responded with a fast break lay-up off a steal, giving CofC the 12-11 advantage.
It was a back-and-forth affair as the teams traded buckets over the next four minutes until the Cougars took its third and final lead of the half at the 8:01 marker when Brooke Kotcella hit a jumper pushing the score to a 20-18 CofC favor. After another field goal from Cougar Hughes, Williams nailed the final bucket of the half for the Lady Eagles with a three at the 7:03 mark.
Georgia Southern shot 32 percent off 7-of-22 shooting to the Cougars’ 15-of-29 (52 percent) in the opening stanza. Melson led the Eagles in the half with five points and four rebounds, while Jones led the Cougars with nine points; Kotecella secured five boards.
The Cougars held the Lady Eagles to seven field goals in the second half as Georgia Southern did not score from the field until the 14:30 marker when Melson hit a jumper, ending over a 12 minute drought for the Lady Eagles from the floor. Georgia Southern did not make another field goal until J'Lisia Ogburn (Dublin, Ga.) contributed two points with 13:14 left as the Cougars continued to widen its lead in the second half. COC maintained a double digit lead at the second media timeout, leading 39-27, and took a 13 point lead by 3:51. Navarro nailed a three with 2:17 remaining to make it a ten point game, 48-38, the Cougars’ smallest lead since 17:15.
Following Navarro’s bucket, Williams scored twice in the final minute and a half of action, rounding out her 13 point night, a career high, as the Cougars finished the contest on a 6-0 run. CofC’s biggest lead of the game was the final margin score of 20, 63-43.
“They started with a man-to-man defense and then moved to a zone defense. For the first couple of minutes against their zone we did well and then the rest of the night we had no offense,” said Cram.
Deidra Jones recorded a double-double for the Cougars with 11 points and 13 rebounds. Jade Hughes posted a team-high 12 points while Ericka Williams added 11.
The Lady Eagles return to action on Saturday, February 21, when they compete in their final home contest of 2009 against Davidson. Tip-off on Senior Day is slated for 3 p.m.
Charleston returns home to host Appalachian State Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m.
Chattanooga 71, Appalachian State 47
BOONE, N.C. --- Chattanooga junior Jenaya Wade-Fray had a season-high 22 points and led the Lady Mocs to a 71-45 win over Appalachian State at the Holmes Convocation Center Monday evening.
With the win, the Lady Mocs improve to 20-7 on the year and 16-2 in the Southern Conference and have now won at least 20 games in 10 consecutive seasons. The Mountaineers fall to 7-19 overall and 6-11 in league play.
Wade-Fray, with 18 points in the first half alone, went 8-15 on the night and tied her season-best with four 3-pointers while grabbing seven boards. Senior Erin Ogan dropped in 17 points, with three 3-pointers and 10 rebounds in route to her seventh double-double of the season.
Senior LaCondra Mason tallied her third straight double-digit game with 13 points and junior Shanara Hollinquest had 11 points and seven rebounds. Junior Tagan Hatchett dished out a career-best-tying five assists for the Lady Mocs who had a season-high 20 in the game with just 11 turnovers.
Wade-Fray started the game draining a 3-pointer from the left corner, the first of a team game-best 12. Appalachian State got in a couple of shots to take a 4-3 lead before Hollinquest hit a jumper to give the Lady Mocs the lead for good.
Chattanooga pushed the lead to 17-8 on a trey from Ogan, but the Mountaineers would put together a 10-3 run to cut the lead to 20-18 with 8:59 to go in the half. However, the Lady Mocs would allow Appalachian State to score just four more points in the period and used a 16-0 advantage over the final four minutes of the half to carry a commanding 44-24 lead into intermission.
In the second half, the Lady Mocs led by as much as 33 points and held ASU to just 23 points. UTC out rebounded the Mountaineers 44-36 and scored 21 points off 15 ASU miscues. The Lady Mocs grabbed 16 offensive rebounds resulting 18 second chance points.
Appalachian State was led by Brittany Mixon’s 20 points and 13 rebounds while Sam Ramirez dropped in 11 points and Canesha Edwards grabbed 10 boards. ASU went just 1-for-9 from the 3-point line and 2-for-5 from the free throw line while the Lady Mocs were 3-for-6 from the charity stripe.
Chattanooga will host Western Carolina Saturday, Feb. 21 in a “WBCA Pink Zone” game with a 1 p.m. tip off. The game will be televised by SportSouth and the Lady Mocs will honor seniors LaCondra Mason and Erin Ogan prior to the game. The men will host Samford in a day-night doubleheader with a 7 p.m. tip.
ASU hits the road to take on College of Charleston Monday at 2 p.m.
UNC Greensboro 74, Wofford 62
SPARTANBURG, S.C. ? Sophomore Monique Floyd poured in a career high 22 points to lead UNC Greensboro to a 74-62 win over Wofford on Monday.
The Terriers opened the game with a 7-0 run, but UNC Greensboro quickly recovered with a seven point run of their own to take their first lead at 11-10. After four tied scores, a late push by Wofford, led by five points from Natalie Gramblin, gave the Terriers a 30-26 lead before halftime. The Terrier offense was evenly spread during the first half, led by Liz Miller with eight points, while Gramblin and Mahagony Williams each recorded seven. Williams also grabbed eight boards in the first half alone.
The Spartans came out on fire in the second half, opening the period with a 14-0 run, putting Greensboro up 38-30 in less than three minutes of play. A three-pointer from Gini Grimsley and a layup from Lakiah Hyson gave the Spartans a double-digit lead at the 15:33 mark, and the Terriers were not able to come within five points for the remainder of the game. Greensboro continued to build its advantage, leading by as many as 13 points before claiming the 74-62 victory.
The Spartans were led by Floyd’s career mark of 22 points. Sophomore Amanda Leigh and senior Grimsley also notched double-digit points with 14 and 12, respectively. Sophomore Agne Girstautaite grabbed nine rebounds and added nine points in the win. The Spartans took advantage of 30 Terrier turnovers, converting the miscues into 22 points.
Sophomore Mahagony Williams led three Terrier players in double-digit scoring with 13 points, and narrowly missed recording a double-double, leading the team with nine rebounds and also notching five blocks. Junior Gramblin added 12 points while Miller contributed 11 and led the Terriers with six assists.
With the win, UNC Greensboro improves to 10-16 on the season and 7-10 in Southern Conference play while Wofford falls to 4-21 overall and 2-15 in the league.
The Terriers will travel to Elon, N.C. on Saturday, February 21 in search of their first road win of the season as they take on the Phoenix at 7:00 p.m.
The Spartans return to the Upstate to take on Furman Saturday afternoon in Greenville at 1:30 p.m.
Samford 78, Davidson 67
DAVIDSON, N.C. - Emily London scored a game-high 22 points to lead five Bulldogs in double figures as Samford spoiled the Wildcats’ senior night in women?s basketball action with a 78-67 win over Davidson in Southern Conference play on Monday evening at John M. Belk Arena.
Davidson, playing in its final regular-season home game, fell to 10-16 overall and 9-8 in league play. Samford picked up its fourth straight win to run its overall mark to 21-4 and 16-2 in the SoCon.
In their final home games of their careers, seniors Mercedes Robinson (Baltimore, Md.) and Mandy Halbersleben (Cincinnati, Ohio) nearly pulled off double-doubles with 10 points and eight rebounds each, and Davidson had four players reach double digits in all, but it was the Bulldog?s shooting that
stole the show on Monday evening.
Samford hit a blistering 69.2 percent (18-26) in the first half on its way to a 46-28 halftime lead. The Bulldogs opened the game hitting 11 of its first 14 shots in grabbing a 25-5 lead on a Chika Okoli three-pointer with 11:29 left in the half.
It seemed like the Bulldogs could not miss from behind the arc either, draining nine treys on 15 attempts in the half, and closed out the game 12-of-21. They came in ranked second in the league in three-point accuracy at 36.1 percent.
For the game, Samford closed out at 58.3 percent, with London setting the pace by hitting 6-of-9 shots, including 4-of-5 from downtown. Joining London in double figures was Savannah Hill with 15 points, Okoli with 12 points, and the guard duo of Megan Wilderotter (10) and Karmen Smith (11). London, Wilderotter and Smith combined to hit nine of the Bulldogs’ 12 three-pointers on the evening.
Davidson did its best to counter Samford?s hot shooting by canning 50 percent of its own shots, but the Wildcats were not able to find their hot-hand from behind the arc, going just 5-of-19 from three-land.
The 50 percent shooting and 67 points scored were all season highs allowed by a Samford squad that came in ranked first in the SoCon in points allowed (51.4) and defensive field goal percentage (35.7). The Wildcats? have the two highest scoring games of the year allowed by Samford, after hitting for 65 back on Jan. 19 in the first meeting.
J?Quita Babineaux gave Samford its largest led of the game at 21 (60-39) with an and-one play at the 13:58 mark of the second half.
The Wildcats tried to make a late charge, going on a 12-4 run that cut the Bulldog lead down to 11 at 71-60 after Ashley Lax (Little Rock, Ark.) swished home a three-ball at the top of the key with 3:22 remaining. Lax pushed her SoCon-best made three-point total to 60 on 4-of-8 shooting from behind the arc and finished with 14 points. She is just six three-pointers away from setting the school?s single-season record for made three-balls.
Davidson cut the lead to 11 two more times in the last three minutes, but was not able to cut it under double digits in dropping the 78-67 home decision.
Julia Paquette (Stockbridge, Ga.) had her second straight solid game off the bench, hitting for 14 points on 7-of-8 from the field, and helped the Wildcats to a 39-32 advantage in points in the paint. The Wildcats have scored at least 30 points down on the blocks in the last six games.
Prior to the game, Robinson and Halbersleben were honored for their four-years of service as part of the Senior Night event. With her eight rebounds, Robinson is just 10 boards away from setting the single-season school record, which is held by Sally Howell with 268.
The Wildcats take to the road for their final three regular season games, with a trip to Statesboro, Ga., to start things off. They will play Georgia Southern on Saturday at 3 p.m.
Samford is off until next Monday evening when it hosts Western Carolina at 8 p.m. ET (7 p.m. ET).
Western Carolina 77, Elon 71
CULLOWHEE, N.C. ? Kristen Feemster had a career-highs in points (16) and rebounds (12) in the second double-double performance and first start of her career, leading Western Carolina women’s basketball to a 77-61 victory over Elon Monday in the Ramsey Center. The Lady Catamounts improve to 15-11 and 11-6 in the Southern Conference while the Phoenix fall to 3-23 and 1-16 in the SoCon.
On a night when Western Carolina struggled offensively from the field, shooting 44.4 percent, the Lady Catamounts made up for it on the boards with a season-high 57 team rebounds. The club had 39 boards on the defensive glass to aid Western Carolina in winning its season-high fourth consecutive game.
Feemster was the bright spot to open the game, relishing the first start of her career. She scored the first six Western Carolina points to start the game. After an early 2-0 lead, Elon took the advantage on the scoreboard and led for the first 16 minutes of the first half. The Lady Catamounts took just its second lead of the half off a lay-up by Diamond Hunnicutt.
Elon reclaimed the lead when Tiara Gause hit a jumper with 2:04 left in the half. Tied at 30, after Feemster scored her 10th points thanks to a lay-up with 1:01 left, freshman forward TT Belcher was fouled. Belcher drained both free throws to give the Lady Catamounts a 32-30 lead at halftime.
The score was tied for the 11th and 12th time in the game to start the second half before Western Carolina took the lead for good after a pair of free throws by senior center Brooke Johnson. The Lady Catamounts went on a 14-4 run in the first 10 minutes of the second half to build a 10-point advantage, 51-41.
Elon would battle back and go on a 10-3 run to cut the Lady Catamount’s lead to three, 54-51, with 8:05 left. Western Carolina was 5-of-8 from the free throw line and got key three-point buckets from Jessica Jackson, who also dished out a career-high seven assists, and Heather Swayne to keep the Phoenix from rising.
The Phoenix stayed in the game thanks to the hot shooting of Gause who led all scorers with 20 points. Elon’s Courtney Medley also scored in double figures with 19.
Lauren Powell was the only other Lady Catamount in double figures with 11 points. She now has 1,301 points in her career and moves into ninth place in career scoring in the Lady Catamount record books.
Johnson is also keeping pace in her quest to break the Western Carolina career blocks record of 127. She had three blocks against Elon and now needs 12 to snap the record. She would need to average three blocks in Western Carolina’s last four guaranteed games, three regular season and one the tournament, to take over the top spot.
Western Carolina heads on the road for a two-game swing beginning Saturday, February 21, taking on Chattanooga and Samford. The contest against Chattanooga will be televised on SportSouth beginning at 1 p.m. Saturday.
The Phoenix entertain Wofford Saturday night at 7 p.m.