CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. ? Appalachian State’s Sam Ramirez scored 19 points including 17 in the second half as the eighth-seeded Mountaineers rallied from a 16-point deficit to upend the ninth-seeded Furman Lady Paladins, 63-60, in Thursday’s Southern Conference Tournament opener at the McKenzie Arena.

Appalachian State (9-21) advances to face top-seeded Chattanooga in Friday’s second quarterfinal match-up at approximately 11:15 a.m.

Ramirez accounted for all four Mountaineer 3-pointers, while also dishing out a game-high seven assists. Brittany Mixon added 17 points and eight rebounds while Brittney Spencer scored 10 with six assists for Appalachian State.

Furman’s Melissa Liebschwager paced all scorers with 21 points while Lee Stephens scored 14, both on 40 minutes of playing time.

With Furman leading by 16, 48-32, with 11:17 to play, the Mountaineers used back-to-back Ramirez 3-pointers coupled with five straight buckets in the paint to close to within five, 53-48. Stephens answered with a long trey from the left wing to push the edge back to eight before Ramirez again drained consecutive 3-pointers. All told, Ramirez tallied 16 of ASU’s 24 points during the rally.

The Mountaineers regained the lead with a Canesha Edwards jumper with 1:19 to play, and then held on from the free throw line, connecting on five of the six attempts inside the final minute.

Furman broke the game’s first tie with a 14-0 first half run, holding the Mountaineers scoreless over the final seven minutes of the opening 20 minutes to take a 32-18 edge into the halftime break.

Chattanooga, Tenn. ? Gini Grimsley scored 18 points to pace four Spartans in double figures as seventh-seeded UNC Greensboro downed 10th-seeded Wofford 83-64 in the opening round of the Southern Conference Women’s Basketball Championship Thursday evening at the McKenzie Arena.

With the victory, the Spartans advance to face second-seeded Samford in quarterfinal round action on Friday at 9:00 a.m. ET.

UNC Greensboro (13-17), who began the game on a 30-9 run, buried 6-of-11 three-point attempts in the opening period on its way to a 39-24 halftime lead and season-high 83 points for the game.

Grimsley connected on all three of her first half three-point attempts and scored the final eight points of the Spartans’ first half spurt to tally 14 of her game-high 18 points in the period.  Lakiah Hyson tallied 15 points and seven rebounds while Monique Floyd and Ashley Mullins contributed 13 and 12 points, respectively, in the opening round contest.

The Spartans shot 38 percent from the field and converted on 24-of-35 trips to the foul line.  The Terriers shot 39 percent from the field, but made just 7-of-24 three-point attempts and 13-of-23 attempts at the charity stripe.

Natalie Gramblin scored seven of Wofford’s first nine points in the second half to trim the lead to 43-33 at the 16:23 mark, but the Terriers were unable to get any closer as they were held to a 4-for-14 shooting effort from beyond the arc over the final 20 minutes.

Sophomore Mahagony Williams notched a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds to lead Wofford (5-24).  Gramblin totaled 12 points while Maddie Helms and Kate Dempsey reached double figures with 11 and 10 points,
respectively.

UNCG netted 24 points off of Wofford turnovers and took advantage of 22 offensive rebounds to outscore the Terriers on second chance points 16-6.