Stephen F. Austin 49, Georgia Southern 40
HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Georgia Southern Women’s Basketball was unable to overcome an eight-point halftime deficit, playing Stephen F. Austin even for most of the second half before falling 49-40 at the Reed Green Coliseum on Friday. Senior Janay Wilson scored 13 points and junior Meredyth Frye tallied 12 to lead the Lady Eagles (1-4).
The Lady Jacks (4-0) took advantage of 15 first-half Lady Eagle turnovers and used a balance scoring attack to take a 26-18 halftime lead. Four different players hit three-pointers for Stephen F. Austin and eight different players scored in the first half for the Lady Jacks. Georgia Southern held a 17-15 edge in rebounding, but struggled to find their shooting range, hitting just 30% of their shots in the first 20 minutes.
Stephen F. Austin began the second half on a 5-0 run, including a three-ball by Courtney Conwright to stretch the lead to 31-18 with 17:53 remaining. Both teams then traded baskets, before Frye scored five-straight points for the Lady Eagles to cut the deficit back to eight with 13:08 to go.
The Lady Jacks stretched the lead to eleven points, before a 9-4 run by the Lady Eagles made it 40-34 with 3:20 remaining. That was as close as Georgia Southern would get, as Stephen F. Austin sank 7 of 10 free throws down the stretch to clinch the win.
Georgia Southern will play in the consolation game Saturday morning at 12 p.m. EST and will face the loser of the first-round matchup between Southern Mississippi and Jacksonville State. Tomorrow’s game can be heard live locally on 103.7 The Boomer or online at GeorgiaSouthernEagles.com/Eaglevision. Justin Baker will have the play-by-play, beginning 15 minutes prior to tipoff.
Western Kentucky 58, Samford 57
BIRMINGHAM, Ala.—The Samford women’s basketball team shot just 38.8 percent overall and 30 percent from three-point range in 58-57 loss to Western Kentucky on the first day of the UAB Thanksgiving Classic Friday afternoon at Bartow Arena.
Western Kentucky outrebounded Samford, 41-25, including an 11-3 advantage on offensive rebounds.
Individually for Samford, Paige Anderson scored 13 points, making 8-of-9 free-throw attempts. Jazmine Powers scored 12 points, while Ruth Ketcham scored nine points and Shelby Campbell and Jazmine Martin added eight points each.
For Western Kentucky, LaTeira Owens led the way with 21 points and 10 rebounds. Ellen Sholtes scored 11 points, while Jasmine Johnson added eight points and 11 rebounds for the Lady Toppers.
The teams traded baskets for the first several minutes of the first half. With Samford leading, 11-10, the Bulldogs went on a 10-0 run to push their lead to 11 points at 21-10 with 9:17 to go in the first half after a three-pointer by Martin. Western Kentucky answered with a 9-0 run of its own to cut the Samford lead to two at 21-19 with 6:41 left in the opening period.
Samford pushed its lead back out to eight points at 27-19 with 4:35 to go in the first half after a layup by Powers. Western Kentucky, however, closed the half with a 7-0 run to cut the Bulldogs’ lead to one point at 27-26 going into halftime.
In the second half, Western Kentucky scored nine of the first 12 points of the half to take a 35-30 lead with 15:11 left in the game. The Lady Toppers pushed their lead out to as much as nine points at 42-33 with 10:41 to go. Samford, however, went on a 10-1 run to tie the score at 43-43 with 7:16 left after a pair of free throws by Anderson.
Samford took the lead at 50-49 with 5:05 left after two more free throws by Anderson. The lead went back and forth for the next few minutes. Samford led, 57-55 with 2:07 to go after two free throws by Ketcham. Two WKU free throws by Johnson and one by Sholtes gave the Lady Toppers a 58-57 lead with 55 seconds to go.
Samford had two chances to take the lead again, but the Bulldogs were unable to convert on either possession.
With the loss, Samford falls to 2-2 on the young season. Western Kentucky improves to 1-4 with the win.
Samford will conclude play in the UAB Thanksgiving Classic with a game Saturday at 2 p.m. against Southeast Missouri at Bartow Arena.
Cincinnati 51, Chattanooga 50
CANCUN, Mexico --- With the ball in their hand, the Lady Mocs had several looks at the basket in the final 20 seconds, but failed to convert, falling 51-50 to Cincinnati in their final game of the 2011 Cancun Challenge at the Moon Palace Resort in Cancun, Mexcio.
Chattanooga falls to 2-3 overall and Cincinnati remains undefeated at 5-0.
Junior Kylie Lambert hit a pair of free throws late then converted on back-to-back 3-pointers and snared two rebounds in the melee at the end, but it wouldn’t be enough to get the Lady Mocs a win.
Lambert led Chattanooga with 16 points, 13 rebounds and four assists and senior Whitney Hood, who hit two huge layups in the final minutes, closed out the game with 14 points and five rebounds.
The Lady Mocs trailed Cincinnati the entire game and was down 44-34 with 8:39 to play. Over the next three minutes, Lambert seven of Chattanooga’s nine points to get to within a point at 44-43 with 4:52 to play. The Bearcats Bjonee Reaves scored three of her 15 points to get Cincinnati back on the board, but the Lady Mocs would hang tough.
Lambert connected on another 3-pointer, cutting the lead to 47-46 at the 4:21 mark but Cincinnati wouldn’t go away and Reaves put her team up 49-46 with 3:18 to play. Hood took a pass from Lambert and hit a short jumper to get back to within one at 49-48 with 2:54 to play.
Cincinnati’s Hollins, who had a game-high 20 points, gave the Bearcats the win on a jumper with 2:34 to play. Hood converted a turnaround jumper from the left side to make it a one-point game with minutes to play.
Cincinnati missed a layup with 29 seconds to play and Chattanooga had the ball for the final shot, but couldn’t get the ball to drop. Senior Tenisha Townsend missed a 3-point attempt but grabbed her own rebound. Sophomore Taylor Hall’s jumper missed the mark and Lambert grabbed the rebound, feeding it to junior Kayla Christopher who also missed with three seconds. Lambert grabbed the shot and fed it to Townsend, but time ran out.
The Lady Mocs out rebounded the Bearcats 40-28 with 12 offensive boards and had 13 assists. From the line, UTC was 8-of-9 and shot 37.3 percent from the field. From the 3-point line, the Lady Mocs hit just 4-of-19 and got eight points from the bench.
Chattanooga will open Southern Conference play Thursday, Dec. 1 at UNCG for a 7 p.m. in Greensboro, N.C. Live stats will be available and Larry Ward will have the call on ESPN 105.1 FM or online at GoMocs.com.
Appalachian State 64, Eastern Kentucky 62
ATLANTA, Ga. –Kelsey Sharkey’s floater in the lane with 1.7 seconds left gave Appalachian State women's basketball a thrilling, 64-62, win over Eastern Kentucky on the first day of the Starwood Hotels of Atlanta Georgia State Thanksgiving Classic on Friday, Nov. 25 at GSU Sports Arena.
The Mountaineers (3-1) were able to hold off a furious rally by the Lady Colonels (1-3) to pick up their third-straight victory.
Appalachian jumped out in front by six points (10-4) early in the first half, but EKU reeled off a 21-6 run to take a 25-16 lead on Jalisa Bryant's three-pointer with 7:08 remaining.
ASU responded with its own 11-0 run, fueled by five points from Katie Mallow, to jump back on top by a 27-25 scored with just under five minutes left in the first half.
The Lady Colonels rallied back to take a 34-29 lead with 2:49 on the clock and looked as if they would go into halftime with the lead intact, but Appalachian State would not go away quietly.
Chakeitha Weldon cut the deficit to two points (34-32) with a pair of free throws in the final minute before Sharkey, who rebounded her own missed shot, hit a jumper at the buzzer to tie the game at 34-34 at the end of the half.
Eastern Kentucky came out of the locker room and scored on their first possession to make it 36-34, but the Apps reeled off a 16-3 run to jump out to a 50-39 lead with 11:12 left in regulation.
The Lady Colonels slowly chipped away at the lead before three-consecutive turnovers by ASU resulted in three-straight EKU buckets to cut the deficit to one point (59-58) with just over a minute to play.
A pair of free throws by Anna Freeman extended the lead to 61-58 but Jasmine Stovall's layup with 32 seconds left made it a one-point game (61-60).
Freeman hit the front end of a one-and-one to give ASU a two-point lead (62-60) with 25 seconds remaining before EKU tied it with a pair of free throws by Raechele Gray with just 10 seconds left.
With time running out and overtime looming, Sharkey dribbled the ball inside the three-point line and nearly lost possession before firing up a shot that fell through the basket with just 1.7 ticks left.
A. Freeman knocked down an EKU pass on a last-ditch inbound play to seal the victory and give the Mountaineers their third-straight win of the season.
Sharkey led Appalachian State with 14 points and fell just shy of a double-double with a team-high nine rebounds. She led all players with a career-high six steals.
Courtney Freeman had 12 points while A. Freeman added 10 of her own to go along with eight rebounds and five steals. Weldon score nine points off the bench and dished out five assists.
Jade Barber had a huge performance for the Lady Colonels with 15 points and 20 rebounds while Marie Carpenter scored 17 off the bench. Gray ended the game with 10 points but turned the ball over five times.
As a team, the Mountaineers shot 37.9 percent (25-for-66) from the floor and 68.4 percent (13-for-19) from the charity stripe. EKU shot 41.8 percent (23-for-55) but committed 26 turnovers.
Appalachian State returns to action tomorrow when it takes on Georgia State at 4 p.m. to close out its holiday trip to Atlanta.
Princeton 53, Davidson 44
PRINCETON, N.J. — The Princeton Tigers’ Niveen Rasheed scored a game-high 24 points to go with nine rebounds and sparked three runs that Davidson was unable to overcome as the Wildcats dropped a 53-44 decision on the road in non-conference women’s basketball action on Carril Court at Jadwin Gym.
Rasheed hit 10-of-18 shots for Princeton (5-0) and scored 14 of her 24 points in the first half. She was the only player to reach double figures, with Devona Allgood leading the Tigers with 10 rebounds.
Sophia Aleksandracivius had her second double-double in the past three games, tallying 12 points and 10 rebounds for the ‘Cats, who fell to 2-3 on the young season.
Leading scorer Laura Murray was held 11 points below her season average as she scored just seven. Barbara Sitton filled the stat-sheet with four points, five rebounds and five steals, while Sarah Davis came off the bench for seven points and five boards, both season highs for the junior forward.
Neither team shot well on the afternoon as Davidson hit just 34.6 percent of its shots, but did hold Princeton to 32.8 percent including 29.6 percent in the second half.
It was Rasheed who would hurt the Wildcats the most as she helped Princeton start out of the gates fast, picking up a 10-0 lead through the first four minutes by scoring six of the points.
Davidson chipped away and scored 12 of the next 18 points to get within 16-12 on a deep Sitton jumper from the left wing with 7:49 on the clock. The ‘Cats though fell behind by double digits again as Princeton’s Rasheed started another spurt, scoring eight straight points with a pair of three-balls and a layup for a 26-15 Tiger lead at the 4:35 mark.
A buzzer-beating jumper at the top of the key by Aleksandravicius cut the deficit under 10 for a halftime score of 30-21.
Out of the break, Davidson cut its deficit to five on a Murray triple to make it 31-26. It was short-lived as Rasheed sparked the third big Tiger run when she netted eight straight points and Princeton used a 13-0 spurt to push its lead out to 44-26 with 12:27 left in the contest.
Davidson got the score back to under double digits one last time at 46-38 on Sheenka Center’s jumper in the corner at 7:26. The Wildcat defense tightened up, holding Princeton to just five points in the last six minutes, but they could not counter, scoring only seven of their own points in that final 7:26 to fall 53-44.
Davidson turns around and heads to Pittsburgh, Pa., to play Duquesne on Sunday with gametime set for 2 p.m.