Wofford 79, Maine 76 (OT)

RALEIGH, N.C. – Led by four scorers in double-figures the Wofford women’s basketball game picked up its first win of the 2012-13 season with a 79-76 overtime victory over Maine Saturday night in game two of the Wolfpack Invitational in Reynolds Coliseum.

Brittenham paced Wofford with 18 points, while Wrightson followed with 17 points and three assists.  Wrights was a perfect 12-of-12 from the free throw line tying a school record for free throw percentage in a single-game.  She is only the third person on the list with double-double digit attempts.  It is the third highest single-Morris chipped in 14 points, while Motley added ten points and seven rebounds.

Wofford (1-1) got off to a quick start as they held an early 9-4 lead on a three pointer by Rachel Brittenham just under three minutes into the action.  Wofford pushed the lead out to eight points, 14-6, on a Morgan Wrightson three and a Brittenham assists at the 15-minute mark.

The Black Bears trimmed the lead to five points, 20-15, on a three from Ashleight Roberts, but Logan Morris answered for the Terries as she knocked down a three to take the lead back to eight points, 23-15, with 8:32 remaining in the half.

Maine trimmed the lead to six points, 23-17, on two free throws Corinne Wellington 30 seconds later, but Wofford took the lead back out to nine points, 26-17, following a Michelle Merritt free and throw a Lauren Kirby jumper with 6:19 left in the half.

Maine was able to cut the lead to two points, 32-30, with a 13-6 run capped off by a Roberts layup, but Wofford answered with two Wrightson free throws to extend the margin to four points, 34-30 with just under two minutes to play.  Wofford held on to take a three points lead, 36-33, into the half.

Wofford shot 35.3 percent from the floor in the half, while Maine shot 47.8 percent.  Wofford made 3-of-9 three-point attempts, while Maine only converted 2-of-10 shots from behind the arc.

Coming out of the half, Maine cut the lead to one point, 36-35, on a layup by Roberts, but Wofford answered with a 10-0 run highlighted by threes from Morris and Brittenham to push the lead out to 46-35 five minutes into the half.

The Black Bears cut the lead to eight points, 50-42, but Wofford again responded as they pushed the lead back to 11 points when Jordan Frazier knocked down a three with less than ten minutes to play.

Wofford kept the double-digit margin until Maine cut a 58-46 deficit with eight minutes to play down to one point, 63-62, with a 12-5 run over the next seven minutes on two Roberts’s free throws.

Daniella Motley knocked down a jumper to take the lead out to 65-62 with 47 seconds left, but Brittany Wells made a three for the Black Bears to tie the game at 65 with 20 seconds left.

Wofford was unable to convert the game-winning basket as the game went into over time.

 

Wofford took a two-point lead on two Brittenham free throws, but Maine tied the game on a Roberts basket with 4:20 left in overtime.

Twenty seconds later, Motley knocked down a jumper to give the Terriers another two-point lead, 69-67.  Wofford took the lead out to 70-67 on a Brittenham free throw, but Maine tied the game at 70 with a three from Courtney Anderson with just over three minutes to play.

After trading baskets, Wofford broke a tie at 72, with a 4-1 run to take a 76-73 lead, but Maine again forced a tie this time at 76 on a Roberts three-point play with 46 seconds left.  Morgan Wrightson gave Wofford a two-point lead, 78-76, as the Terriers earned a defensive stop and Brittenham made free to seal the Wofford win, 79-76.

Wofford finished 39.7 percent from the field and 38.9 percent from three, while Maine shot 42.9 percent overall and 34.8 percent from long range.  The Black Bears outrebounded Wofford 42-38, but Wofford forced 21 turnovers and only committed 17.

Maine was led by Roberts with 29 points and Brittany Wells added 12 points.  Liz wood and Mikaela Gustafsson scored 11 and ten points respectively.  Gustafsson grabbed a game-high nine rebounds.

Wofford returns to the court Thursday, November 15 at 7 p.m. at UNC Asheville.

Western Carolina 58, UNC Asheville 45

ASHEVILLE, N.C. – Redshirt senior Diamond Hunnicutt scored a career-high 16 points in Western Carolina women’s basketball’s (1-0) 58-45 season-opening win over UNC Asheville (0-1) Saturday at Kimmel Arena.

The game was the night-cap of the Asheville Collegiate Invitational pitting Big South teams against teams from the Southern Conference. Earlier in the day, Charleston Southern defeated UNCG 60-57.

Hunnicutt, who had five points in the first half, poured in 11 points in the second to pace the Catamounts. She also had three rebounds and two steals.

UNCA led the game at the half, 28-26, in a hotly contested opening 20 minutes. The lead changed four times. Tied at 26 with a minute left in the half, the Bulldogs’ Tacey Trammel scored with 21 seconds left to top the Catamounts by two at the break.

In the first three minutes of the second half, the game was tied three times before Western Carolina began to pull away. Tied at 34, Hunniuctt sank a pair of free throws to give the Catamounts a two-point lead and WCU never trailed in the contest again. A three pointer by Makensey Campbell pushed the Catamount lead to five.

The three-pointer by Campbell was the third in the first five minutes of the second half, after the team hit only one in the first half. Western Carolina had five treys for the game, four in the final 20 minutes.

Western Carolina held UNC Asheville to nine points over the course of the first 12 minutes of the second half. The Catamounts built its largest lead of the game, 11, with 3:51 left in the game off a pair of free throws by redshirt senior Janae’ McKinney. 

Freshman Erika Joseph led the Catamounts with six rebounds and also scored two points. Junior college transfer Hana Haden got the start at the point ending the contest with three points and a team-high four assists.

Twelve of the Catamounts 14 active players saw action in the game. All but one got in the scoring column.

Western Carolina shot 42.9 percent from the field, 50 percent in the second half alone. The Catamounts also had 11 steals and four blocks with two blocks coming from junior Shauna Terry.

After going 3-of-8 from the free throw line, in the first half, Western Carolina was 8-of-9 in the second half for 11-of-17 to end the game.

The Catamounts host Campbell on Monday in their home opener in the Ramsey Center. Tip time is set for 7 p.m.

Charleston Southern 60, UNCG 57

ASHEVILLE, N.C. – The UNCG women’s basketball team began its 2012-13 campaign with an entertaining contest against Charleston Southern, but Rachelle Coward scored 28 points for the Buccaneers to lead them to a 60-57 victory at Kimmel Arena.

Freshman point guard Lucy Mason turned in an impressive debut for the Spartans, scoring 17 points to go along with four rebounds and three steals. Junior Jarae Savage also reached double figures with 10 points while leading UNCG in rebounding with eight boards.

UNCG forced 29 turnovers in the contest, scoring 30 points off those miscues and ending up with 13 steals. The Spartans also received nine points off the bench while limiting the Bucs to six. Charleston Southern held a slight advantage in rebounding with 41 as compared to 35 for the Blue and Gold, but UNCG secured 12 offensive rebounds – including four from junior Janae’ Stevenson. Additionally, the Buccaneers shot 42 percent from the field and knocked down nine three-point field goals with Coward draining five of them.

UNCG scored six of the first 11 points of the contest down low to hold a one-point advantage at the first media timeout. The Spartans then accelerated defensively, stealing the ball and scoring off those turnovers to build a 14-5 cushion with 14:22 remaining in the half.

It was Charleston Southern’s turn to rally from there, out-scoring UNCG 16-0 over the next six minutes to forge into the lead at 21-14. A pair of old-fashioned three-point plays by junior Natalie Headley and freshman Lucy Mason helped the Spartans answer and UNCG would trail by just two, 26-24, with 2:22 showing on the clock. The teams headed into the locker room knotted at 28 as layups by juniors Jarae Savage and Breonna Patterson canceled a Zhaquondalee Greer jumper.

CSU held the upper hand in shooting percentage .407-.387 in the first 20 minutes while also out-rebounding the Spartans 22-14. UNCG was able to force 18 Buccaneer turnovers and scored 17 points as a result. Coward paced all scorers with 15 of her 28 points while Mason led the Spartans with seven.

Charleston Southern out-scored UNCG 14-3 over the first seven minutes of the second period, but the Spartans fought back and sliced the deficit to four points at 42-38 on a Mason layup with exactly 10 minutes on the clock. The Blue and Gold was unable to come any closer as the teams traded points, leaving the score at 50-44 at the 5:39 mark.

A three-point field goal by Erin Bratcher with 3:40 left seemed to put the game in jeopardy for the Spartans as the Bucs led by eight (55-47), but UNCG answered with a 6-0 spurred by a Mason three-point field goal to draw within 55-53 with 1:47 left on the clock.

Bratcher was not done, however, as she hit a dagger of a three-pointer to make the score 58-53 just seconds after a layup by Mason. After a tip-in field goal by Savage, Stevenson stole the ball and Savage came through with a layup after an offensive rebound to bring her team within one point, 58-57. DJ Fowler would knock down a pair of free throws, giving the Spartans the ball and a chance to tie at the buzzer. Headley had a good look from the right wing in an attempt to send the game to overtime, but her shot at the buzzer just missed off the rim and the Bucs escaped with the win.

UNCG opens its home schedule this Tuesday, Nov. 13, with a game against Radford. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. at Fleming Gymnasium.