College of Charleston 57, Georgia Southern 53
STATESBORO, Ga. - The College of Charleston women's basketball team held the Eagles to just two baskets in the final nine minutes and rallied from a 10-point second-half deficit to defeat Georgia Southern, 57-53, this afternoon in front of 762 fans at Hanner Fieldhouse in Statesboro, Ga.
The Cougars snapped a two-game skid and improved to 10-5 overall and 5-2 in the Southern Conference, while the Eagles dropped to 7-8 and 2-4 in the league.
Carolyn Whitney nailed a three-pointer with 11:18 remaining in the second half to give the Eagles a 10-point, 45-35, lead. It capped an 11-1 run by Georgia Southern that began after Tonia Gerty (Port Orange, Fla.) tied the score, 34-34, with 15:09 to go.
Indya Mudd's (New Orleans, La.) lay-up at 10:32 to cut the margin to eight, started the Cougars on a 15-4 run, led by a nine-point surge from Deidra Jones (Irmo, S.C.), over the next six minutes to take their first lead of the half, 50-49 with 4:20 remaining. Charleston held the Eagles to just one basket and two free throws and made seven of eight free throws down the stretch and took away the 57-53 win.
The Cougars led most of a close fist half until the 2:31 mark when a layup by Jessica Geiger put Eagles on top for the first time. Her basket accounted for two of the Eagles nine unanswered points that saw a six-point Cougar lead evaporate into a three-point, 27-24, halftime lead for Georgia Southern.
Gerty led the Cougars with 17 points and was followed by Jones with 13 points and a team-leading six rebounds. Whitney paced the Eagles with 14 points. J'Lisia Ogburn followed with 12 points and six rebounds.
After shooting just 28.6 percent from the field in the first half, the Cougars rebounded with a 41.7 percent effort in the second to end the game with 34.6. Georgia Southern shot 39.5 percent from the game. Both teams were five-for-15 from beyond the three-point arc and the Eagles' 14-for-20 effort from the charity stripe was only eclipsed by Charleston going 16-for-19.
The Cougars out-rebounded the Eagles 35-28 and had nine more offensive boards, 14-5, that resulted in an 11-1 advantage in second-half poitns. Turnovers were close with Georgia Southern holding the 19-17 edge.
Charleston returns to action Monday, Jan. 11, when the Cougars host the Terriers of Wofford in a 7 p.m. tip-off.
Elon 59, Western Carolina 54
CULLOWHEE, N.C. - The Elon women's basketball team picked up its second Southern Conference win with a 59-54 victory over Western Carolina on Saturday afternoon at the Ramsey Center in Cullowhee, N.C. It was the first time in the last eight tries that the Phoenix has defeated the Catamounts. With the win, Elon improves to 6-9 on the season and 2-5 in SoCon action. Western Carolina, the defending SoCon Tournament champion, is now 3-12 and 2-4 in league play.
"This was a total team effort. I am really proud of the way that this team finished," head coach Karen Barefoot said. "It was a great win for our seniors, who now have wins over Western Carolina and Chattanooga this season. I couldn't be happier for Urysla [Cotton] and Tiffany [Davis], who really stepped up and led our team today."
Senior Urysla Cotton earned her fourth double-double in five games with a team-best 15 points and 10 rebounds. Ali Ford finished in double figures for the 12th time this season with 12 points. Tiara Gause added 10 points while Kelsey Evans registered a season-best four blocks and contributed eight points.
Western Carolina's Emily Clarke led all scorers with 20 points, followed by Caitlin Hollifield with 17. Hollifield also pulled down a team-best eight rebounds in the effort.
Clarke registered three buckets from downtown during an early 12-2 streak that put the Catamounts up 18-8. Trailing 22-11, the Phoenix defense held Western Carolina to just one point over the final eight minutes of the first half. During the 13-1 run, Gause scored six points, including two with 38 seconds on the clock that sent the Phoenix into the locker room holding a 24-23 lead. Elon shot 39.1 percent from the field in the first half, led by Gause with eight points and Evans with six tallies.
Western Carolina tied the game at 26 on a three-pointer by Clarke in the opening minute of the second half. Neither team led by more than four until the Phoenix opened up a six-point advantage on a long three by Ford that made it a 43-37 game at 12:06. A triple by Western's Kendra Carroll cut the lead to 43-41 before a layup by Gause allowed the Phoenix to go ahead 45-41. The bucket was the last made-basket by the Phoenix in the game as Elon went on to score its last 14 points from the charity stripe. Ford led the charge, going 6-of-8 from the line, but Davis sealed the win, scoring Elon's final four points with under a minute to play.
Elon won the rebounding battle 39-27 and outscored WCU's bench 20-7. The win snapped a four-game losing streak for the Phoenix.
The Phoenix will travel to Greensboro, N.C., to take on UNC Greensboro on Wednesday, January 13 at 7 p.m., before returning to Alumni Gym for a five-game home stretch.
Chattanooga 60, Appalachian State 53
BOONE, N.C. - Kayla Christopher hit back-to-back 3-pointers to spark a 17-2 Chattanooga run as the Lady Mocs defeated Appalachian State 60-53 in Southern Conference women's basketball action Saturday afternoon at the Holmes Convocation Center.
The Lady Mocs improve to 11-6 overall and 6-2 in league play while the Mountaineers fall to 7-8 overall and 2-4 in SoCon action.
The Lady Mocs led 32-23 at halftime and expanded its lead to 12 points just a little over two minutes into the second half before Appalachian State outscored Chattanooga 28-8 over the next 13 minutes to take its biggest lead of the game at 51-43 with 5:29 to play.
Ashlen Dewart and Chakeitha Weldon combined for 18 of the Mountaineers points in the run with Weldon hitting all nine of hers to propel ASU into the lead. Dewart's jumper with 5:29 capped the run.
Christopher (Oliver Springs, Tenn.) drained a 3-pointer with 5:03 on the clock to cut the lead to five. She would nail her second from long range, hitting nothing but net, 34 seconds later to cut deeper into the lead. Senior Jenaya Wade-Fray (Madison, Ala.) gave UTC the lead for good on her second trey at 52-51 with 3:20 to play.
Senior Shanara Hollinquest (Sylacauga, Ala.) iced the game with a pair of free throws at the 2:15 mark to put the Lady Mocs up 54-51 before Anna Freeman would score Appalachian State's only two points of the final five minutes of play to cut Chattanooga's lead to 54-53 with 2:01 to play.
After an ASU foul, Hollinquest would drain her next two free throws to stretch the lead back to 56-53 at the 1:42 mark. Dewart missed a jumper and Christopher grabbed the defensive board, but a missed 3-pointer gave the Mountaineers another chance.
Senior Megan Rollins (Monteagle, Tenn.) grabbed a steal and dished the ball to sophomore Tenisha Townsend (Antioch, Tenn.) who drew a foul. Townsend sank both shots and UTC's lead grew to 58-53 with just 25 ticks on the clock.
Christopher grabbed another defensive board on a missed jumper by ASU's Sam Ramirez and, after a foul by the Mountaineers, her free throws were the difference in UTC's 60-53 win.
Hollinquest led UTC with a game-high tying 14 points and eight rebounds. Townsend was the Lady Mocs other scorer in double figures with 10 points and a pair of 3-pointers. Wade-Fray and Christopher each tossed in eight for UTC while Wade-Fray and Rollins each had four assists.
Dewart led the Mountaineers with 14 points, had three rebounds and three assists. Anna Freeman had 10 points for ASU and a team-high six rebounds. Chakeitha Weldon scored all nine of her points in the Mountaineers second half run and pulled down five defensive boards.
UTC held the advantage on the boards 36-30 including 13 on the offensive end. Both teams had 17 turnovers while the Mountaineers had 11 steals to UTC's five.
The Lady Mocs will return to action Monday night at Davidson in a 7 p.m. matchup at Belk Arena. Larry Ward, "The Voice of the Lady Mocs", will have all the action live on 95.3 "The Pulse". Live stats, streaming video and audio will be available at the official website of UTC athletics, GoMocs.com.
Davidson 78, Samford 77 (OT)
DAVIDSON, N.C. - Junior Ashley Lax (Little Rock, Ark.) sent the Wildcat faithful home in a frenzy when she drained a three-ball with 2.4 seconds remaining in overtime to send Davidson to its sixth straight win with a 78-77 decision over visiting Samford on Saturday night in women¹s basketball Southern Conference action.
In a battle of first and second place teams in the SoCon, Lax made sure the Wildcats (8-7, 6-1 SoCon) had first place all to themselves with a dramatic trey as time was running out in overtime. The win helped push their home winning streak to five straight, and they have won eight of their last nine games overall.
Down 77-75 in overtime after two free throws by the Bulldogs' Emily London, Davidson, on a missed three-point attempt by the Bulldogs with 12 second remaining, called a quick timeout to set up an out of bounds play. Senior Alex Thompson (Asheville, N.C.) inbounded the pass to Sophia Aleksandravicius (Pound Ridge, N.Y.) on the right block, where she then turned out to the right wing and fed Lax, who came all the way from the left corner off a screen, and the sharp-shooter squared up and rattled home the game-winner for the one-point victory.
Lax was one of four starters to score in double figures, the third straight game the Wildcats have accomplished the feat. She had 13 points, 12 of them from behind the arc, and had four rebounds and three assists.
Thompson paced the 'Cats with 22 points, the second time in the last three contests she has hit the 20-point mark, while Kristen Johnsen poured in a career-high 17 points (12 in the first half) to go along with a career-best nine rebounds. Senior Julia Paquette rounded out the quartet with 11 points and eight rebounds.
Samford's London dropped in a school-record 35 points on 11-of-19 shooting, including hitting six of the Bulldogs' 13 treys, and going a perfect 7-for-7 from the free throw line. She added five rebounds, five assists and three steals.
London single-handedly kept Samford (11-6, 5-3 SoCon) in the game in the second half after its coach was ejected with 8:11 left by scoring 21 of her 35 points. With Davidson leading 59-53 on a Paquette jumper at 7:37, London went on an 8-2 run of her own to tie things up at 61-all.
After a three-pointer by Hannah Dawson, who had 10 points on the evening, Thompson drilled a three-ball from the right wing and then gave the Wildcats a one-point lead on a pair of free throws at 67-66 with 1:16 on the clock. But, London came down and hit a trey for a 69-67 Bulldog lead and just eight seconds left in regulation.
Coming out a timeout, Davidson forced overtime when Johnsen got a feed from Thompson under the basket on an inbounds play and converted on the layup with six ticks on the clock.
Overtime saw Savannah Hill give the Bulldogs a 73-71 lead on a layup, but Paquette tied things up on a jumper in the paint with 1:44 left. Two free throws by Megan Wilderotter with 1:28 remaining pushed the Bulldog lead back to two, but Thompson came down on the Wildcats' next possession to tie the score again at 75-all with a driving layup.
The game was a back-and-forth affair all evening with 11 ties and 12 lead changes. The first half saw both teams take a lead on numerous occasions as there three ties and five lead changes. Samford had an 16-8 lead early, but Davidson went on a 9-0 to take a 17-16 advantage at the 10:25 mark.
The lead would later grow to five on a Lax trey at 24-19, but the Bulldogs, led by London¹s 10 points in a 12-3 run, closed out the half up 31-27.
Davidson will conclude its three-game homestand with a SoCon matchup against Chattanooga on Monday, Jan. 11, at 7 p.m.
Game Notes: Davidson is in the midst of playing five games in a 10-day span, with tonight's game being No. 4 ... Davidson hit the 40-rebound mark for the sixth time this year ... both teams were on fire from downtown with Samford hitting 13-of-28 and Davidson going 9-of-19, a season-high for the Wildcats ... the five straight wins at home is the longest since a seven-game streak during the 2007-08 season and into the 2008-09 season ... the 'Cats six-game overall win streak is the longest since a 10-game run during the 2006-07 season ... coach Annette Watts is just four SoCon wins away from reaching 100 for her career ... the win was Davidson¹s first against Samford, which joined the league last year ... the 6-1 start for Davidson in the SoCon is the second-best in program history after last year¹s 7-0 start.