Elon 56, College of Charleston 49 (OT)
ELON, N.C. - The Elon University women's basketball team rallied back from 11 points down for the second straight game to come back and claim the win, as the Phoenix needed all 40 minutes of regulation and a five-minute overtime to register a 56-49 victory over the College of Charleston Cougars on Saturday afternoon, Jan. 22, in a key Southern Conference matchup inside Alumni Gym.
Trailing by 11 points with 4:52 remaining, the Phoenix (13-5, 8-2) used an 11-0 run that was capped off by a deep three from Ali Ford with 1:54 remaining to tie it a 45-all. Ford extended the run to 13-0 just seconds later after hitting a pair of free throws to give Elon a 47-45 edge with 1:01 to play.
But the Cougars managed to tie the game and eventually send it to overtime with 38 seconds remaining after Janae Smith worked inside the paint for a layup following a timeout to knot it a 47-all. After a Phoenix turnover gave CofC the ball with 11 seconds left on the clock, Smith could not convert on a wide-open layup with five seconds left and the game went to an extra session.
It was all Elon in overtime, as Ford scored or assisted on the Phoenix's first three baskets to put the maroon and gold ahead, 54-49. Elon secured the win in the waning moments after the Cougars were forced to foul down the stretch and send the Phoenix to the line.
The Phoenix outscored the Cougars 9-2 in overtime, Elon's first game of OT since Jan. 18, 2010 against Wofford. Prior to today, Elon's last win in overtime was Jan. 17, 2005 at Western Carolina.
Ford tallied a game-high 21 points on 6-of-17 shooting from the field in a career-high 43 minutes, including a 5-of-14 clip from beyond the arc, putting her over the 20-point mark for the sixth time this season.
Three of Ford's five makes from three-point land occurred in the final 2:38 of regulation and overtime. Ford also grabbed seven boards in the win, one shy of her career high mark that she set against Wofford last Sunday.
Kelsey Evans recorded her second straight five-block game and her fourth overall this season in the win to go along with 12 points and eight boards.
Rookie Candice Silas played well off the bench on both sides of the court, scoring four points and grabbing four boards to go along with a career- and game-high five steals.
As a team, Elon shot just 34.5 percent from the field, but a 12-of-17 (70.6 percent) performance at the free throw line proved to be the difference.
The Cougars went up by as many as 11 points after Latisha Harris hit a jumper to make it a 45-34 game, capping an 11-0 run for College of Charleston. Harris scored 10 points in the loss, while Smith registered a team-high 14 points for the Cougars.
College of Charleston had 10 turnovers in the final 3:39 of regulation and overtime, totaling 28 total turnovers that led to 31 Elon points.
Over the course of Elon's 13-0 run late in regulation, the Phoenix tallied eight points of CofC turnovers, including a pair of three pointers by Ford and Julie Taylor that sparked the comeback.
The victory marks Elon's seventh in a row and its eighth straight in league play.
First place in the SoCon will be on the line on Monday night, Jan. 24, when the Mountaineers of Appalachian State come to Alumni Gym for a 7 p.m. contest. The Mountaineers topped UNC Greensboro, 83-72, earlier today to improve to 8-2 in conference play along with the Phoenix.
Furman 58, Georgia Southern 50
GREENVILLE, S.C. - Kaitlin Murphy scored 13 of her team leading 14 points in the second half and helped spark a decisive Paladin comeback to lead Furman past Georgia Southern, 58-50, in women's Southern Conference basketball action Saturday afternoon at Timmons Arena.
The win improved Furman (8-10, 4-5 SoCon) to 7-0 at home on the campaign and halted a six-game series losing streak to Georgia Southern (8-12, 5-6 SoCon). The Paladins' eight victories under first year head coach Jackie Carson top the seven wins Furman registered a year ago in a 7-24 campaign.
Murphy, a sophomore guard from Memphis, Tenn., scored only a point and played just seven minutes in the first half but turned up her game over the final 20 minutes, tallying seven points in a 13-4 Furman run that saw the Paladins erase a 30-21 deficit. Her layup with 12:09 to go knotted the game at 34-34.
From that point the Paladins weathered a pair of three-point deficits before taking the lead for good on a driving layup by Ayanna Randolph for a 43-42 advantage at the 5:27 mark.
Randolph delivered a jump shot less than a minute later to make it 45-42, and assisted on a basket by Booke Keeton with 3:07 to go that gave the Paladins a 47-42 advantage.
A free throw by Kendra Berry with 2:16 left completed a Furman 9-0 run that gave the Paladins a 48-42 lead.
Furman protected its advantage the rest of the way with free throws by Randolph, Murphy, Keeton, and Brigid Morrissey.
Berry joined Murphy in double figures with 11 points while also claiming a career high 15 rebounbs. Randolph's nine points matched a season high, and Keeton finished with seven points, seven rebounds, and a pair of blocks - all in the second half.
Georgia Southern was paced Merdyth Frye's game high 17 points. Jamie Navarro added 11 for the Eagles, who also got 15 rebounds from Krista Tate.
The Eagles used a late first half surge to take a 27-21 lead at intermission, and stretched it to 30-21 early in the second half following a layup by Samantha Williams and Navarro free throw.
Both teams struggled from the field, with Furman's late surge helping the Paladins finish with a 31.5 percent clip (17-of-54). Georgia Southern shot just 27.4 percent from the field (17-of-62).
The scoring difference came at the free throw line with the Paladins converting 22-of-33 attempts while Georgia Southern connected on just 14-of-25 from the stripe.
Furman, which forged a narrow 49-46 rebounding advantage, committed only 13 turnovers, its lowest total in 12 games.
Furman plays at the College of Charleston on Monday. Tipoff is set for 7:00 p.m.
Appalachian State 83, UNCG 72
GREENSBORO, N.C. - Appalachian State University women's basketball found its rhythm mid-way through the second-half and was able to hang on to defeat UNCG 83-72 Saturday afternoon at Fleming Gym. The win is the Black and Gold's fourth straight and pushes the squad to a 14-4 record, including a 8-2 SoCon mark, while the Spartans drop to 9-9 on the season and 6-4 in league play.
Appalachian State took a 13 point lead, just two minutes into second-half action, but UNCG would not go away quietly and the Apps saw their double-digit lead diminish, holding tightly to a 45-40 advantage.
Five points would be the closest the Spartans could make the score however, as the Mountaineers got an offensive boost and posted a 24-7 run that UNCG could not match, making the score 69-47 in the Black and Gold's favor with a little over eight minutes left to play.
Contributions came from all over for ASU during the spark, with Anna Freeman, Sam Ramirez and Kelsey Sharkey all producing on the offensive front.
Ramirez was once again the Apps leading scorer with 20 points, including dishing out six assists and grabbing two steals.
Not quiet offensively either Anna Freeman scored 17 points in the game, going 7-14 from the field, while Sharkey posted a season-best 11 points, hauling in seven rebounds and recording three assists.
UNCG continued to hang around, as eight points from Amanda Leigh in a two minute span, including connecting on two treys gave the Spartans some life cutting UNCG's deficit to just nine points with under four minutes remaining.
Leigh was on fire for the Spartans, pouring in a game-best 26 points, connecting on 5-8 from downtown.
Able to stave off the athletic and tough Spartan squad, ASU picked up the 11- point victory.
First half action saw two ties, at both the 12-point and 19 point marks.
It was sophomore Ashlen Dewart that continued her offensive dominance early, as she poured in seven of Appalachian's first 12 points, but Dewart only played eight minutes in the first period due to foul trouble.
Dewart was the fourth Mountaineer to close out the game in double-figures as she had 19 points along with seven boards.
Propelled by offensive brilliance by Anna Freeman and Ramirez, as the duo combined for 14 of ASU's final 19 before the break, ASU grabbed a 37-28 halftime lead.
In a second-half that saw many momentum changes, Appalachian State was able to keep its double-digit point cushion for the majority of the period and went on to earn the exciting win.
Appalachian was unstoppable down low offensively, pouring in 60 points in the paint, and took advantage of UNCG's miscues, scoring 34 points off the Spartans' 23 turnovers.
With little time to rest, ASU caps off its road swing, Monday, January 24 as the team heads to Elon, N.C. for a first place conference showdown with the Phoenix, who are also 8-2 in league play. The game is set to start at 7 p.m. from Elon's Alumni Gym.
Davidson 80, Wofford 50
SPARTANBURG, S.C. - Sophia Aleksandravicius tallied a double-double in the first half on her way to game highs of 26 points and 13 rebounds, and Davidson scored its largest road win in the all-time series vs. Wofford, cruising to an 80-50 victory on Saturday night at Benjamin Johnson Arena in Southern Conference women's basketball action.
The Wildcats (7-10, 3-6 SoCon) used a 28-6 run in the last eight minutes of the first half to blow open the game as they picked up their biggest win of the season. It's their largest league win since defeating UNCG by 30 last year.
Aleksandravicius led the way with 10 points during the run as she finished the half with 14 points and 11 rebounds. The double-double was the sophomore's 14th of her career, while she had her eighth, fifth of the year, career 20-point outing.
Laura Murray joined Aleksandravicius with 14 first-half points as she finished 6-of-10 from the floor, including hitting a pair of three-balls. The freshman also pocketed four of the 'Cats 14 steals for the game.
Rounding out the Wildcats trio of double-figure scorers was Jasmine Calin, who recorded a career night, dropping in 11 points, pulling down eight boards and swatting away a pair of blocks.
Wofford's (6-11, 2-7 SoCon) April Moorhouse and Mahagony Williams had 12 and 10 points, respectively, to lead the Terriers.
After doubling up Wofford early, 16-8, Davidson saw the Terriers us a 9-0 run to come back and take a 17-16 lead with just under nine minutes to play in the first half. The Wildcats then found their rhythm on offense and caught fire, rattling off a 28-6 run to finish the half up 44-23. The 'Cats shot a season-best 54.5 percent for a first half and their 44 points were also a season-best.
Davidson then opened up the second half with a running layup from Aleksandravicius and two buckets by Kristen Johnsen for a 50-23 lead, forcing the Terriers' to burn their last timeout of the contest with 18:13 remaining.
The lead would eventually grow to as much as 34 (80-46) on a Aleksandravicius' layup with 3:13 left before the Terriers netted the last four points for the final score of 80-50.
Davidson earned its second 50 percent shooting game in the last three contests, finishing at an even 50 percent (32-64).
The Wildcats held a 42-35 edge on the boards, the 11th time this year they have out-boarded the opposition. They had 15 of those rebounds on offense on their way to 19 second-chance points.
Senior Chloe Woodington dished out a career-high eight assists as Davidson had its second 20-assist game of the year, finishing with a total of 21. Aleksandravicius and Murray each dished out four of their own.
Davidson continues it's three-game road trip with a stop at UNCG on Tuesday, Jan. 25 for a 7 p.m. game.
GAME NOTES: Davidson dominated the points in the paint, scoring 48 points to Wofford's 22 ... led by Calin's 11 points, the Wildcats had a 26-7 edge on points off the bench with Amanda Ottaway (6) Ashley Lax (5), Katrin Chiemeka (5), Barbara Sitton (4) also contributing ... Davidson turned 22 Terrier turnovers into 29 points ... the Wildcats went 12-of-15 from the charity stripe (80 percent), the third time in the last four games its shot over 80 percent at the line ... Aleksandravicius has scored in double figures nine games in a row.
Chattanooga 71, Western Carolina 55
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - Junior Whitney Hood scored a game-high 20 points and led the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga to a Southern Conference women's basketball win over Western Carolina Saturday night at the McKenzie Arena.
Hood was one of four Chattanooga (9-11, 6-5 SoCon) players in double figures on the night knocking down her SoCon-leading 11th game with 20 or more points. Sophomore Kylie Lambert, heeding Chattanooga Head Coach Wes Moore's instruction to "shoot more", knocked down her second career double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds.
Lambert got the scoring started early bookending a 13-7 scoring run to start the game with a pair of 3-pointers sandwiched around a layup for eight points. Chattanooga continued to shoot more and led 25-15 with less than a quarter of the game gone on a 3-pointer from freshman Destiny Bramblett.
The Catamounts (6-12, 4-5 SoCon), with five points from Kaila'Shea Menendez, quickly cut that lead back to 27-25 on a 10-2 run as the Lady Mocs managed just two points over the next five minutes. Junior Bailey Dewart drained a 3-pointer at the 4:56 mark of the first half and the Lady Mocs jumped on board with its own 10-2 run to expand the lead back to double digits at 37-27 with 1:59 until intermission.
Chattanooga shot 48.4 percent from the floor making 15-of-31 while the Catamounts kept up shooting 43.8 percent of their own on a 14-of-32 performance. The Lady Mocs went 7-of-16 from beyond the arc in the first half and just 1-of-2 from the free throw line.
The Lady Mocs kept up the pressure as the second half started with a 9-2 run to build its lead to its largest at that point, 47-34, with less than two minutes expired in the half. Chattanooga never trailed by more than seven points the remainder of the game went on to give Moore his 499th career win and 299th win as head coach of the Lady Mocs.
Sophomore Kayla Christopher was 4-for-5 on the night with a pair of 3-pointers for 11 points and dished out five assists. Bramblett was the fourth Chattanooga player in double figures with 10 points, a career-high, a tied her previous best with seven rebounds. Junior Tenisha Townsend was one shy of her career-best with a game-high seven assists on the night.
Chattanooga reached the 40 rebound plateau for the first time since they pulled down 42 against UNC Greensboro on Jan. 2 and outrebounded the Catamounts 40-36. The Lady Mocs forced 12 turnovers and converted that into 18 points and had 13 second chance points on 11 offensive boards.
The Lady Mocs kept up their hot shooting in the second half making 14-of-31 (45.2%) but slowed down behind the arc making just 2-of-11 for a total of nine in the game. Chattanooga held Western to just 8-of-29 from the field and 0-for-7 from the 3-point line.
Western Carolina Caitlin Hollifield scored a team-high 18 points and posted a double-double with a game-high 13 rebounds. Menendez had 15 points for the Catamounts on 6-of-11 from the field.
The Lady Mocs will not return to action until Jan. 31 when they host the College of Charleston at 7 p.m. at the McKenzie Arena.