Georgia Southern 67, Appalachian State 57
BOONE, N.C. - The Georgia Southern Women's Basketball team dropped Southern Conference leader Appalachian State 67-57 Monday night at the Holmes Center. In getting the win over the Mountaineers (21-5, 16-3 SoCon), the Lady Eagles (12-16, 9-10 SoCon) also picked up their first Southern Conference road victory. Georgia Southern snapped the Mountaineers' 18-game home winning streak and 12-game overall win streak. ASU's last loss was to the Lady Eagles on January 10th in Statesboro.
Four Lady Eagles scored in double figures with Samantha Williams tying her career-best with 18 points off 7-16 shooting and three treys. Krista Tate scored 15 points with Meredyth Frye and Jamie Navarro each adding 11.
Georgia Southern's tenacious defense held Appalachian State to a paltry 20 percent shooting from the floor in the second half and a 30.4 percent for the game. The Mountaineers were 0-11 from behind the arc.
The win gives the Lady Eagles the season sweep over the Mountaineers for the second-straight year. Georgia Southern now owns a 33-13 all-time series lead over Appalachian State, winning the last eight of nine contests and 9 of 11 at the Holmes Center.
The Eagles quickly erased the Mountaineers' three-point, 33-30 halftime lead in the second period, tying the game at 37 a piece at the 17-minute mark. ASU would jump back out to a two-point lead off a pair of free-throws from Anna Freeman, but a layup by Williams and go-ahead trey by Tate would put GSU out front two minutes later, 42-39. The Mountaineers would not go down quietly, staying within four points of the Lady Eagles until a trey by Navarro extended the lead to five-point, 50-45, game, Georgia Southern's biggest lead to that point.
The Mountaineers brought the Lady Eagles' lead down to one with six-and-a-half minutes left, but a three-pointer by Frye, combined with two made free-throws by Scott ended the run in vain. Appalachian State did not come more than four points within the GSU lead after that. The Eagles stalled the Mountaineer run twice with Frye making two free throws at the 4:38 mark and a layup at 2:46 to maintain a six-point lead.
ASU still was in the ball game until the end. Ashlen Dewart sinked a pair from the charity stripe to keep the Mountaineers within two possessions of a tie under two-and-a-half minutes, 63-57. On the next GSU possession, Navarro passed the ball to Tate, who then drove the hole for the basket and a foul. Tate made the free-throw for a nine-point advantage. ASU spent the last 1:30 sending the Eagles to the line where Williams made the last free throw to send the Lady Eagles home with a 67-57 win.
The Lady Eagles return home to Hanner Fieldhouse for their final regular season home game against Furman Saturday, February 26th.
Tipoff is scheduled for 5 p.m. with the Senior Night ceremony before the lineups.
Furman 62, Davidson 57
DAVIDSON, N.C. -- Katilin Murphy scored 13 points and tallied six assists to power Furman past Davidson, 62-57, in Southern Conference women's basketball action Monday evening at Belk Arena.
With the win, the second straight road triumph for Furman (13-15, 9-10 SoCon), the Paladins remained in a sixth-place tie with Georgia Southern, which Furman will play at 5:00 p.m. Saturday in Statesboro in the regular season finale for both teams.
A victory over Georgia Southern and loss by UNC Greensboro at Appalachian State on Saturday would give the Paladins fifth place. Furman, a 7-24 squad a year ago and preseason No. 11 selection by league head coaches, is assured of finishing no lower than seventh place heading into Southern Conference Tournament, which gets underway Mar. 3 in Chattanooga.
Monday's triumph over Davidson (12-16, 7-12 SoCon) completed the season sweep of the Wildcats and halted a nine-game Furman losing skid in Belk Arena. The 13 wins are the most by a Furman squad since 2004.
Murphy connected on 4-of-11 shots and 5-of-6 free throws to lead a balanced attack. Kendra Berry was the only other Paladin to reach double figures with 10 points, but Raegan Thompson and Kaitlin Murphy came through with solid nine-point performances. In addition Thompson contributed a squad high seven rebounds, and Oberg added five board and three blocks.
Martha Robinson came off the bench to contribute four points and six boards for the Paladins.
Davidson got a game high 16 points from Ashley Lax and 10 points from Laura Murray.
The Wildcats jumped to an early 7-0 advantage and remained in front until Kelly O'Connor's jump shot with eight minutes to go in the first half put Furman ahead for good, 20-19.
The Paladins enjoyed a 28-21 advantage at intermission and twice stretched the margin to as many as 11 points in the second half before Davidson's Jasmine Calin cut the lead to two points at 47-45 with 7:37 to go.
Furman led 49-47 with 6:41 left when Kaitlin Oberg and Kendra Berry delivered baskets, and Raegan Thompson buried a 3-pointer with 4:14 remaining to cap a 7-0 surge to put the Paladins up, 56-47.
Three Lax free throws at the 1:10 mark pulled Davidson to within three points at 59-56, but Oberg's layup with 17 seconds to go made it 61-56 and secured the game's outcome.
Furman's strong second half play was keyed by 57.1 percent shooting (12-for-21). The Paladins finished the contest shooting 39.7 percent (23-for-58) while Davidson converted 23-of-65 shots (35.4 percent).
Samford 59, UNCG 52
GREENSBORO, N.C. - The Samford women's basketball team overcame a 17-point deficit to earn a 59-52 Southern Conference win at UNC Greensboro in the final regular-season game of the 2010-11 season for the Bulldogs.
Samford is now 22-7 overall and 15-5 in Southern Conference play after claiming its first-ever win at UNC Greensboro. The Bulldogs will be the No. 2 seed in the upcoming SoCon Tournament and will open play in the tournament on Friday, Mar. 4 at 8 a.m. (CST) against a yet to be determined opponent.
UNC Greensboro is now 13-14 overall and 10-9 in league play. The Spartans will wrap up their regular season at Appalachian State on Saturday.
Samford was playing without starting forward Hannah Dawson for the second-straight game after Dawson suffered an injury in the team's Feb. 14 win over Davidson.
Samford was led in scoring by senior guard Emily London with 17 points. Senior forward Savannah Hill scored 12 points, grabbed seven rebounds and dished out six assists. Junior guard Ruth Ketcham added 13 points for the Bulldogs.
UNC Greensboro was led by Janae' Stevenson with 14 points and 15 rebounds. Monique Floyd had 11 points and nine rebounds for the Spartans.
After Samford started the scoring with an early three-pointer by Paige Anderson, UNC Greensboro went on a 22-2 run to take a 22-5 lead with 10:45 left in the first half after a jumper by Jazz Weaver.
With Samford trailing, 26-12, the Bulldogs closed the first half with a 12-0 run to cut the UNC Greensboro lead to two points at 26-24 at halftime.
UNC Greensboro scored the first five points of the second half to push its lead back out to seven points at 31-24 with 19:21 to go in the game after a layup by Dayshaun Richbow. Samford answered with a 10-2 run to take a 34-33 lead with 14:33 left in the game after a layup by Hill.
Samford pushed its lead out to five points at 44-39 with 8:52 to go following a layup by Hill. UNCG, however, answered with a 6-0 run to take the lead back at 45-44 with 6:12 left in the contest after a layup by Stevenson.
The Bulldogs then went on an 8-0 run to take a 52-45 lead with 2:33 left following a layup by Ketcham. The Spartans fought back to cut the lead to four points at 53-49, but Samford pulled away down the stretch for the 59-52 win.
The pairings for the Southern Conference Tournament, scheduled for Mar. 3-7 in Chattanooga, Tenn., will be announced at the conclusion of the regular-season this weekend.
Western Carolina 68, Wofford 58
SPARTANBURG, S.C. -- Wofford's Rachel Brittenham's points-steals double-double, 16 points and 12 steals, wasn't enough as the Western Carolina Catamounts spoiled the Terriers Senior Day with 68-58 win in a Southern Conference game Monday in the Benjamin Johnson Arena.
It was Brittenhman's second career double-double, neither of which have come in the conventional points-rebounds way. Her first double-double was against Chattanooga with 14 points and 11 assists, and it was only the second time in Wofford history a player had a points-steals double-double. Her 12 steals also set a Wofford school record for steals in a single game, and her 16 points came by going 2-of-6 from the floor with one three and 11-of-12 from the free throw line. Her 12 steals also contributed to the team's season-high mark of 19 steals. Brittenham also had a game-high seven assists which pulls her within nine assists of breaking the school record for assists in a season set by Libby Corry in the 1993-1994 season. Brittenham currently has 139 assists, which leads the SoCon and had her ranked 43rd nationally in assist per game prior to tonight's contest.
Western Carolina started the game with a 10-3 lead three and a half minutes into the game, but Wofford would mount a 5-0 run to cut the lead to 10-8 on a Mahagony Williams jumper with just under 15 minutes to play.
The Catamounts responded with a 10-0 run over the next three minutes to take a 20-8 lead. The Terriers would cut the lead to four on two Brittenham free throws with 4:04 to play and to three on another Brittenham free throw with 3:05 remaining, but Western Carolina would take seven point lead, 30-23, into the break.
At the start of the second half, Western pushed their lead to 15 points, 38-23, just under three minutes into play. The Catamounts maintain their lead, until an April Moorhouse layup cut the lead to five points, 43-38, with 9:22 to play. Wofford would cut the lead to three points three and a half minutes on another Moorhouse layup, but Western would regain control of the game and push the lead to 59-47 with 2:28 to play.
With the 68-58 win, Western Carolina improves to 8-20 overall and 6-13 in the SoCon,while Wofford falls to 7-20 and 3-16.
Wofford finished the game with 33 percent from the floor and 37 percent from three, while Western Carolina was 38 percent overall and 40 percent from long range.
The two teams combined for 51 turnovers, with WCU turning the ball over 27 times and Wofford handing it over 24 times. The Catamounts outrebounded the Terriers 68-51.
Wofford was led by Brittenham with her 16 points, and Moorhouse followed with 14 points. Kelly Blake added 11 points, while Daniella Motley, Mahagony Williams and Maddie Helms had four rebounds.
For Western, Kaila' Shea Menendez had 19 points, and Caitlin Hollifield had 14 points. Emily Clarke added 11 points. Menendez and Rena Wakama grabbed eight rebounds.
Prior to the game, the Terriers honored their three seniors: Ashley Kroker, Maddie Helms and Mahagony Williams.
The Terriers will play their final regular season game Sunday, February 27 at Davidson with tip off scheduled for 4 p.m. Davidson took the first meeting between the two teams 80-50 on January 22.
Chattanooga 73, Elon 63
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. --- The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women's basketball team scored 49 second half points for a comeback 73-63 win over Elon to claim sole possession of third place in the Southern Conference standings with one game left to play of the regular season.
Chattanooga improves to 15-13 overall and 12-7 in league play while the Phoenix move to 17-11 overall and 11-8 in the SoCon standings.
The Lady Mocs trailed 28-24 at intermission after the Phoenix started strong grabbing a 16-7 lead midway through the opening stanza. Elon kept up the pressure forcing eight first half miscues by Chattanooga and converting that to four points.
For the second straight game, junior Whitney Hood found herself in foul trouble early and played just 10 minutes in the first half with two points. Sophomore Kayla Christopher picked up the slack, however, and was 4-for-7 including a pair of 3-pointers for 10 points in the first.
The second half started with a quick foul by Elon to put Christopher at the line. She drained the first of her two free throws but missed the second. Junior Bailey Dewart grabbed the rebound and kicked it back out for Christopher's third trey of the night. She would get one more to move ahead of Erin Ogan on the UTC all-time 3-pointers made list with 116 just two years into her career.
The two teams battled back and forth for the next few minutes before sophomore Kylie Lambert converted an old-fashioned 3-point play for the first tie of the game, 34-34 with 16:54 to play. Hood went across the lane just moments later to give Chattanooga its first lead since the opening seconds of the game at 36-34.
Elon tied it up on a layup from Kelsey Evans, but Dewart drained the 3 to give Chattanooga the lead for good, 39-36 with 15:22 to play. Evans hit a jumper to get Elon to within one, but that was as close as the Phoenix would get.
Back-to-back steals from junior Tenisha Townsend and Christopher led to four points for Chattanooga and its largest lead of the game at 65-52 with 2:01 to play. The Lady Mocs converted on 10-of-12 from the free throw line in the final two minutes of play with Townsend making 7-of-8 down the stretch for the win.
Christopher had a game-high 21 points and eight rebounds. Townsend had 13 points and six rebounds and was 9-of-11 from the charity stripe. Lambert, had 12 points for UTC along with five boards, two steals and a blocked shot. Freshman Taylor Hall had eight points on the night and four rebounds.
Elon's Ali Ford went 1-of-10 from the 3-point line but led the Phoenix with 13 points and five turnovers. Evans and Lei Lei Hairston each tossed in 10 points with Hairston just missing a double-double with nine rebounds. Evans, the league's leading rebounder, pulled in seven. Aiesha Harper had nine points and a game-high five assists.
Elon outscored UTC 28-22 in the paint but Chattanooga had 14 points on 14 Elon turnovers compared to the Phoenix' 10 points on 13 UTC miscues. The Lady Mocs converted eight offensive boards into 12 second chance points while Elon recorded 11 on 15 off the offensive glass. Elon outrebounded the Lady Mocs 44-36 and each team got 16 points from the bench.
The Lady Mocs will close out the regular season this Saturday, Feb. 26 in Cullowhee, N.C., against Western Carolina. The game will tip at 2 p.m. at the Ramsey Center.