Davidson 61, Furman 50
GREENVILLE, S.C. — The Davidson women’s basketball team turned up the defensive intensity on Saturday at Furman, holding the Paladins to 26.6 percent shooting, and forcing 21 turnovers while turning those into 23 points on their way to picking up a 61-50 Southern Conference road win at Timmons Arena.
The Wildcats (9-5, 5-0 SoCon) remained perfect in league play as it took over first place by knocking off the Paladins, who were tied with the ‘Cats and fell to 8-6 overall and 4-1 in the SoCon.
The dynamic scoring duo of Laura Murray and Sophia Aleksandravicius were at it again, scoring 20 and 15 points, respectively, to pace the Wildcat attack. The pair also combined for 15 rebounds.
Katrin Chiemeka iced the win with three free throws and finished with 10 points.
All five starters scored all 61 points for Davidson, with Kristen Johnsen adding nine points and Barbara Sitton chipping in seven to go with her four assists and five rebounds.
Furman had a pair of double-figure scorers with Brittany Hodges getting 12 and Janice Roberts scoring 10 off the bench.
Davidson’s defense held the Paladins to 26 percent shooting in the first half and forced 12 turnovers, helping it grab a 10-point advantage. A Murray steal and fastbreak layup followed by a triple gave the ‘Cats an early 14-5 lead. They pushed it out to 19-11 on a Sitton three-ball, one of two she hit in the half, but the Wildcat offense stalled allowing the Paladins to come back.
A five-minute scoring drought by the Wildcats allowed Furman to cut the lead to one at 21-20 with 2:47 left in the half. Teshia Griswold led the charge with six points.
Davidson though closed on a 9-0 run capped off by a Johnsen putback before the buzzer sounded for a 30-20 lead.
The second half saw Aleksandravicius give the ‘Cats a 36-24 lead four minutes in on a layup, but Furman cut the advantage to 38-35 later on a three-pointer from Lashana Booker at the 11:41 mark.
Murray helped put the Paladins away when she scored nine of the Wildcats next 12 points and Davidson used a 12-5 run to open up a 52-40 lead with around seven minutes to play.
Chiemeka drained a three-ball for Davidson’s biggest lead at 57-42 at the 4:45 mark and the lead never went under 10 points the rest of the way.
The Wildcats wrap up a quick two-game road trip to the state of South Carolina on Monday night at Wofford with tipoff set for 6 p.m. The game can be heard on the Davidson radio network, which can be found on davdisonwildcats.com.
Appalachian State 72, Elon 58
ELON, N.C. – Appalachian State women’’s basketball overcame a slow start and a furious Elon rally to pick up a 72-58 Southern Conference road win on Saturday at Alumni Gym.
The Mountaineers (10-2, 4-0 SoCon) managed just five points in the first four minutes but the held the Phoenix (6-9, 2-4) scoreless during the same span before heating up for 45 first-half points en route to their first win of the calendar year.
Anna Freeman gave the Apps their first double-digit lead with a three-pointer to put Appalachian up 14-5 with 12:53 left in the first half.
ASU would find its rhythm from that point on, shooting 51.4 percent (19-for-37) in the first half while holding Elon to just 32.0 percent (8-for-25) from the floor.
The Mountaineers found themselves up by 21 points following a Canesha Edwards’ layup with 5:06 remaining and would lead by as many as 24 points on three occasions in the first half before heading to the locker room with a 45-21 lead.
Despite the 24-point deficit, Elon would claw its way back with a 21-6 run over the first 10 minutes of the second half to Appalachian State’s lead to just five points (51-46) but the Apps responded with a 10-1 run to push its lead to 61-47 before the final media timeout.
Freeman scored six of her game-high 24 points during the run, which silenced the crowd and swung momentum permanently in favor of the Mountaineers as Elon was held without a field goal for over eight minutes during that stretch.
The Phoenix was able to come within eight points (66-58) in the final minute, but Appalachian State was able to convert key free throws down the stretch to seal the victory.
Appalachian State shot 48.3 percent (28-for-58) from the floor including 82.4 percent (14-for-17) from the charity stripe while holding Elon to 35.6 percent (21-for-59) from the floor.
The Apps finished with a 40-32 edge in rebounds, forced 24 turnovers and finished with three blocks. In addition to her 24 points, Freeman pulled down a team-high eight rebounds and dished out a game-high six assists.
Courtney Freeman chipped in with 16 points while Edwards finished with 10. The Phoenix was paced by Ali Ford’s 17 points while Aiesha Harper tallied 12.
The Mountaineers return to action at UNCG at 7 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 9 before returning home against Davidson Sunday, Jan. 15.
Chattanooga 58, College of Charleston 44
CHARLESTON, S.C. – Junior Latisha Harris scored 15 first-half points and the College of Charleston women’s basketball team had it tied 29-29 at halftime, but Chattanooga pulled away in the second half as the Cougars fell 58-44 Saturday at TD Arena.
Harris, who notched her fourth double-double of the season with 19 points and 11 rebounds, scored the last 12 points of the first half for the Cougars.
In a game that featured six ties and nine lead changes, neither team led by more than four points in the first half.
The second half started off much in the same manner as the first with both teams trading baskets as freshman Christy Hewatt scored the first five points for the Cougars (2-12, 1-4 SoCon), including a layup to bring CofC within one at 35-34 at the 16:16 mark.
Chattanooga (9-4, 4-0 SoCon) would hold the Cougars scoreless for the next six minutes and 24 seconds, but CofC played solid defense as well only allowing the Mocs to score six unanswered points.
The Cougars would bring the deficit back to four with a Harris jumper to make it 43-39, but another scoring drought, this time five minutes and 54 seconds allowed the Mocs to go on a 13-0 run to break the game open and lead 56-39.
The Cougars shot 48 percent from the field in the first-half, but could not keep it up as they finished the game shooting 34 percent. They held Chattanooga to 36.2 percent shooting.
Junior Cathryn Hardy scored eight points for the Cougars and sophomore Jillian Brown had six assists.
The Cougars have a quick turnaround as they welcome Samford to TD Arena on Monday in a 7:00 p.m. game.
Western Carolina 62, UNCG 29
CULLOWHEE, N.C. – Western Carolina women’s basketball (6-8, 1-4 SoCon) picked up its first Southern Conference victory of the season with a 62-29 victory over UNCG(2-11, 1-4 SoCon) Saturday in the Ramsey Center.
The Catamounts held the Spartans to just 22.6 percent shooting and 15 points in the first half and 14 in the second half. Western Carolina shot 49.1 percent for the game, scoring 36 second half points. The 29 points scored by UNCG is the least amount of points WCU has allowed an opponent this season.
Senior guard Kaila’Shea Menendez led all scorers with 20 points, going 8-for-10 from the field and nailing one three pointer. Freshman guard Makensey Campbell followed up her career-high 18 point scoring performance, against USC Upstate, with a defensive outing, ripping down a career-high 10 rebounds. Sophomore guard Rena Wakama added 13 points.
It was a tight game early going, with each team enjoying a one or two point lead in the first 10 minutes of the first half. Leading by one, 12-11, Western Carolina began to widen the game after Menendez hit a jumper at the 8:10 mark to make the score 14-11.
The Menendez basket jump started the Catamounts as they went on a 12-0 run, in a seven minute span, expand its lead to 13, 26-13 with 1:51 left. UNCG scored before the half, a jumper by Natalie Headley, to make the score 26-15 at the break.
The second half was all Western Carolina all the time. Though the Catamounts hit a bit of a scoring lull, in the middle of the second half, WCU opened the final 20 minutes of the game with a scoring frenzy.
Western Carolina built a 25-point lead, to open the second half, by scoring 12 straight points on UNCG. The Spartans, meanwhile, were held scoreless for the first six plus minutes of the second half. Ironically it was Headley who hit the lay-up for UNCG, the same player who scored just before the half for the Spartans.
The remaining 13 minutes of the game was all Western Carolina. In the second half, WCU shot 50 percent from the field and hit three of its five three pointers in the game.
Western Carolina doubled up UNCG on the glass pulling down 42 boards to the Spartans 29.
The Catamounts host SoCon foe Furman at 7 p.m. Monday to complete its two-game home stand.
Samford 53, Georgia Southern 47
STATESBORO, Ga.—Samford senior guard Paige Anderson scored 23 points to lead the Bulldog women’s basketball team to a 53-47 Southern Conference win at Georgia Southern Saturday afternoon at Hanner Fieldhouse.
Defensively, Samford held Georgia Southern to just 34.0-percent shooting overall and 7.1 percent from three-point range. Samford shot 38.1 percent overall and 35.3 percent from beyond the arc.
Anderson made 7-of-13 shots overall and 3-of-6 from three-point range. She was 6-of-6 from the free throw line, with all six coming late in the game to help Samford hold on for the win. Taylor Reece scored eight points for Samford, while Christy Robinson scored six points and Ruth Ketcham added five points and a team-high eight rebounds.
For Georgia Southern, Meredyth Frye led the way with 11 points and seven rebounds. Anna Claire Knight added 10 points for the Eagles.
In the first half, Samford grabbed the lead early, scoring the first five points of the contest on a layup by Ketcham and three-pointer by Anderson. Georgia Southern came back to take a 6-5 lead with 14:48 to go in the first half after a basket by Briana Scott. Samford then scored the next six points in a row to take an 11-6 lead with 12:31 to go in the first half following a layup by Robinson.
With Samford leading, 13-10, the Bulldogs scored the next five points to push its lead out to a first-half high of eight points at 18-10 with 7:20 to go in the half after a three-pointer by Reece. Samford took a 25-19 lead into halftime.
In the second half, Reece opened the half with a three-pointer to give Samford a nine-point lead at 28-19 with 18:32 to go in the game. Georgia Southern scored the next eight points to cut the lead to one at 28-27 with 14:18 left in the contest.
Samford pushed its lead back out to six points at 33-27 with 12:59 to go after a three-pointer by Kendall Schwantz. Georgia Southern fought back to cut the Samford lead to two at 33-31 with 10:53 remaining after a jumper by Knight. A pair of free throws by Hannah Dawson, however, increased the Samford lead back out to four at 35-31 with 9:00 to go.
Georgia Southern closed to within one point at 37-36 with 4:46 to go in the game after MiMi DuBose hit one of two free-throw attempts. Anderson, however, answered with a three-pointer to make the score 40-36 with 4:07 left in the contest. A GSU jumper by Ro-Ro Smith cut the lead back two points at 40-38 with 3:45 to go.
In the last 1:48 of the game, Samford hit 13-of-16 free-throw attempts to pull away for the 53-47 win. In the game-ending stretch Anderson hit six free throws, Ketcham hit three free throws, while Reece and Jazmine Powers made two free throws each to help Samford secure the win.
With the win, Samford improves to 7-6 overall and 2-2 in the Southern Conference. Georgia Southern drops to 5-9 overall and 1-4 in league play.
Samford will return to action on Monday, Jan. 9, when the Bulldogs play at College of Charleston. The game is scheduled for a 6 p.m. (CT) start from Charleston, S.C.