Wofford 78, Georgia Southern 66
SPARTANBURG, S.C. - Sparked by Rachel Brittenham's career-high 17 points, Wofford College opened up their 2010-11 Southern Conference scheduled with a 78-66 win over the visiting Georgia Southern Eagles Wednesday night in Ben Johnson Arena.
Brittenham set her new career mark by going 5-of-7 from behind the three-point line including three baskets from well behind the men's three-point line. She was also 2-of-5 from the free throw line and tied another career mark with six assists.
The win gave the Terriers a 3-4 overall record and a 1-0 start in the conference, while the Eagles slipped to 1-6 overall and 0-1 in SoCon play. Wofford also picks up their first win over Georgia Southern under head coach Edgar Farmer and their first win over the Eagles since February 1, 2002. It is the first time since the 2001-02 season the Terriers have started SoCon play 1-0.
Wofford, who is now 3-0 when scoring first, put the first points on the scoreboard as Jessica Escorza opened the game with a three. Wofford ran the lead to 11-1 on a Mahagony Williams post move at the 17-minute mark. Williams scored scored six of Wofford's first 11 points during the stretch.
However, the Eagles mounted a comeback and tied the game at 15 on two free throws from Mimi Dubose with 11 minutes to play in the half. Brittenham responded with her first three of the night to give the Terriers an 18-15 lead, a lead they would never relinquish. Wofford held a slim margin until an April Moorhouse layup gave the Terriers a 33-23 lead with a minute and half to play. Brittenham followed with a triple as the Terriers took their largest lead of the half 36-23, but the Eagles knocked down the final two baskets of the half with layups from Krista Tate and Meredyth Frye to give the game the score of 36-27, Wofford, at the break.
Wofford shot a sizzling 54 percent from the floor in the half and 40 percent from behind the arc, while Georgia Southern managed only 24 percent overall and 16 percent from long range. Georgia Southern's Tate led all scorers at the intermission with ten points, while Moorhouse had nine for Wofford.
The Eagles came out of the gate in the second half and trimmed the lead to six on a Samantha Williams three on their first possession, and at the 14-minute mark pulled within four points, 47-43, on another Samantha Williams bucket.
Wofford responded with a layup by Williams and a three by Logan Morris on their next two possessions to push the lead back to nine points and regain control of the contest 30 seconds later. A Jessica Escorza three gave Wofford a 57-47 lead with ten minutes to play, and the Terriers held their largest lead of the game, 68-54, on a Brittenham three six minutes later.
Down the stretch, Wofford hit five of their six free throws, three by Maddie Helms and two by Brittenham, to close out the game and give the Terriers the 78-66 win.
Eleven of Brittenham's 17 points came in the second half as she was 3-for-3 from three and both her free throws came in the period.
Wofford finished the game with a 45 percent field goal percentage, a 36 percent three-point percentage and a 56 percent free throw percentage. Georgia Southern ended the game 41 percent from the floor, 42 percent from three and 75 percent from the charity strip.
Wofford outrebounded Georgia Southern 45-35, however the Eagles won the turnover battle with 13 turnovers compared to the Terriers 19. Woffford's 19 turnovers was their lowest of the season.
Following Brittenham for the Terriers was Williams, who earned her school leading 22nd double-double of her career and her third double-double of the season with 16 points and 13 rebounds, ten of which came in the second half. Williams has scored in double digits in six straight games. Moorhouse added 13 points and nine boards. Freshmen Escorza and Morris chipped in 12 points and ten points apiece. Wofford has a freshman score in double-digits in six of their opening seven games.
For the Eagles, Tate and Samantha Williams had 17 and 16 points respectively. Fyre and Dubose added 11 points apiece. Frye was 4-of-7 from the floor and made two of her three free throws. Danielle Spencer grabbed a team-high seven rebounds.
Wofford will return to the court Sunday, December 12th against Bluefield College with tipoff scheduled for 3 p.m.
UNCG 66, Morgan State 47
BALTIMORE - UNCG got a double-double from Amanda Leigh and led by as many as 31 points as it cruised to a 66-47 road win over Morgan State on Wednesday.
Leigh had 15 points, all on 3-pointers, and a career-high-matching 10 rebounds, both game highs, for her second career double-double. Monique Floyd was also in double figures for the Spartans (2-4) with 11 points, while Jazz Weaver had a big game with a career-high six assists in just 16 minutes.
Brittany Dodson led Morgan State (4-3) with 15 points of her own to share game-high honors with Leigh. Whitney Southerland had 10 for the Lady Bears.
"We're excited about tonight's performance," UNCG coach Lynne Agee said. "I just told the team that we played a very good pace for us. We wanted to drive the ball and attack the basket and really push it in transition. I thought we had a good tempo. I thought our defense was pretty solid. The last eight or 10 minutes, we slowed down a little bit, we lost some intensity when we got a big lead, but overall I thought we really handled the pace of the game and set it at our tempo, which pleased me."
UNCG shot a season-best 48.1 percent from the floor (26-for-54), including a 50 percent showing in the second half (13-for-26). The Spartans trailed just once in the contest at 5-3 led by at least 16 for the duration of the second half.
Leigh, who hit a 3-pointer for UNCG's first basket, had 12 points in the first half alone, as she was 4-for-5 from beyond the arc at the break. She finished 5-for-9 from downtown, marking her second straight game with five 3s.
Morgan State's Erin Hawkins hit a 3-pointer with 9:58 left in the opening frame to draw the Lady Bears within two at 14-12, but UNCG would hold MSU without a field goal for the next 4:33 to open up a 10-point lead.
After taking a 32-16 lead into halftime, UNCG exploded out of the locker room on a 19-4 run to open up a 31-point advantage at 51-20 with 12:06 to play. Leigh started the scoring with a 3-pointer, and five other players contributed to the run.
Morgan State would tighten things up from there on out, outscoring UNCG 26-13 over the next 11 minutes to get the margin under 20 with less than a minute to play. Southerland had eight of her points in the spurt, while Dodson had seven.
UNCG dominated the glass, outrebounding the Lady Bears 49-27. The Spartans took advantage of 15 offensive rebounds for 20 second-chance points.
Morgan State forced 27 UNCG turnovers, but could convert them into only 13 points. The Spartans forced 17 Lady Bear turnovers and made them count, scoring 21 points off of them.
The 19-point win was UNCG's biggest since an 83-64 victory over Wofford in the first round of the Southern Conference Championship on March 5, 2009.
The Spartans return to action on Tuesday, Dec. 7, when it hosts backyard rival High Point at Fleming Gym at 7 p.m.
College of Charleston 55, UNC Pembroke 50
CHARLESTON, S.C. - The College of Charleston women's basketball team used a 14-4 run, sparked by eight points by freshman Janae Smith, late in the second half to erase a four-point deficit and take the 55-50 win over UNC Pembroke in front of 173 fans at the Carolina First Arena.
The Cougars (3-5) were up by six, 35-29, with 16:31 remaining, before the baskets stopped falling and UNC Pembroke's Briana Stanton took advantage, scoring seven to lead the Braves (3-2) on an 11-1 run over the next 10-and-a-half minutes to take the four-point, 40-36 lead, with just 5:53 to go.
Smith scored eight of the Cougars' next 10 points as Charleston outscored the Braves 19-10, including a 14-4 run from 5:53 to the 1:00 mark, to stop the rally and take the five-point, 55-50 win. With five seconds to go and the Cougars up by only three, Jillian Brown iced the game with two free throws to put the game out of reach.
The Cougars opened the game with six unanswered points to lead 6-0 with 18:25 before intermission, before UNC Pembroke fought back to cut the margin to two, 6-4. The game stayed within five until a lay-up by Smith put the Cougars up by seven at 7:09. Charleston built its largest lead of the game at 4:18 (10 points, 29-19), and looked to take a double-digit lead into the locker room but UNC Pembroke closed out the half with five unanswered, and trailed by just five, 24-29, at the break.
Smith recorded her second straight double-figure scoring game, leading the Cougars with 13 points and nine rebounds. The nine boards tied her career-high. Tonia Gerty followed with 11 on the night. Leading UNC Pembroke was Dominique Washington with 13 points and Stanton with 10. JaToya Kemp almost had a double-double with her team-leading 11 rebounds and nine points.
Charleston shot 35.7 percent from the field, compared to 31.6 percent for the Braves. The Cougars had five more turnovers, 25-20, but held a 10-rebound advantage, 45-35. UNC Pembroke went to the charity stripe 16 times and converted 12, while the Cougars were 11-of-17. The bench play for Charleston was crucial, posting 30 of the team's 55 points.
Charleston is off for a couple of weeks for exams and returns to the hardwood Dec. 16 with a 7 p.m. matchup against Chattanooga at the Carolina First Arena.