College of Charleston 72, East Carolina 62

GREENVILLE, N.C. – Multiple College of Charleston women’s basketball players had career days as they came together for a 72-62 victory against East Carolina at Minges Coliseum Saturday.

Junior guard Alyssa Frye set a school record for three-pointers in a game as she connected on seven-of-10 from beyond the arc. Frye, who totaled a career-high 21 points, broke the previous record of six threes.

Senior Latisha Harris notched her second double-double of the season with a career-high 21 points and 15 rebounds. Both Frye and Harris have scored in double-figures in each of the Cougars (2-1) three games this season.

Junior point guard Jillian Brown matched her career-high with 10 assists as the Cougars totaled 18 assists versus 16 turnovers. The Cougars forced the Pirates (2-1) into 18 turnovers and converted 17 points off those turnovers.   

The Cougars went on the attack from the opening tip, converting on two layups to take an early 4-0 lead. Sophomore Christy Hewatt made her first start of the season and made the most of it with 10 points in the opening period to help the Cougars build a 35-28 lead.

Harris started the second half exactly as she did the first period with a layup to stretch the Cougars lead to nine at 37-28.

East Carolina would not go down without a fight as they mounted a 12-2 run to capture the lead at 40-39. It would be the Pirates only lead of the game as Frye came down on the next Cougar possession and nailed a three to put the Cougars on top 42-39. A Harris basket and another Frye three-pointer stretched the lead to seven at 47-40.

The Cougars stayed consistent and kept up their pressure defense, holding East Carolina to 34.3 percent shooting for the game, including just 2-of-18 from beyond the three-point arc.

Frye broke the record for threes in a single game previously held by Brooke Kotcella, Nikki Williams and Becky Wollenberg.

Up next the Cougars travel to Ohio during Thanksgiving week for a matchup with Miami-Ohio (Nov. 23, 6:00 p.m.) and Cincinnati (Nov. 25, 2:00 p.m.).

Chattanooga 81, ETSU 48

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. --- University of Tennessee at Chattanooga junior Meghan Downes drained a career-high 24 points to lead the Lady Mocs to an 81-48 win over East Tennessee State Saturday night at the McKenzie Arena.

Downes was 8-of-11 from the field with four 3-pointers, 4-of-6 from the free throw line and had two steals and two blocked shots in 20 minutes. Joining her in double figures were senior Kayla Christopher with 14 points and a pair of 3-pointers, junior Alex Black with 13 points and 3-of-4 from beyond the arc and junior Taylor Hall with 12 points and five rebounds.

Junior Destiny Bramblett played just nine minutes but led UTC with six rebounds and put in six points, making 4-of-4 from the free throw line. She has made all nine of her free throw attempts this season. Senior Kylie Lambert had five rebounds while Black and freshman Alicia Payne each dished out a team-high four assists.

Chattanooga is off to its best start since the 1999-2000 season, Moore's second year at Chattanooga, with a 3-0 record. ETSU falls to 0-2 on the short season.

The Lady Mocs shot 48.5% (16-of-33) in the first half and were 46.6% (27-of-58) for the game and scored 80 or more points for the third straight game, a Southern Conference best average. From the 3-point arc, Chattanooga shot a scorching 50% (11-of-22) but was outrebounded by the Lady Bucs 46-41.

ETSU got the first bucket of the game and the Lady Mocs responded with 9-0 run and never looked back. The Lady Bucs cut the score to three, 9-6 at the 16 minute mark, with six quick points, but again UTC responded with a 12-0 run to get well into a double-digit lead, going up 21-6 at the 11:29 mark of the opening half. The Lady Mocs continued to push its lead behind the scoring of Christopher who had 12 first-half points and led 42-20 at the break.

Chattanooga did not let up in the second half and would lead by as much as 35 points when Black drained one of her three 3-pointers with 6:09 to play to put the Lady Mocs up 72-37. Downes put up 15 second half points making five shots including a pair of 3-pointers.

The Lady Mocs dished out 18 assists, forced 20 ETSU turnovers, capitalizing on the miscues with 18 points. ETSU outrebounded Chattanooga 46-41 with 18 offensive rebounds resulting in 18 second chance points while The Lady Mocs' bench outscored ETSU 40-16.

Chattanooga will travel to Moraga, Calif., to participate in the St. Mary's Thanksgiving Classic Friday and Saturday at the McKeon Pavilion. The Lady Mocs will take on Portland State Friday, November 23 at 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time and St. Mary's on Saturday at 5:00 p.m. ET.

This will be Chattanooga's second trip to St. Mary's, but the first time the two teams will meet. This will be the Lady Mocs' second meeting with Portland State. The last time the two teams met was at the Lady Wahine Classic in Hawaii in December 2006. Chattanooga came away with an 81-61 win and went on to defeat the hosts for the title.

UNCG 55, Gardner-Webb 49

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Freshman guard Ciara Morris posted her first career double-double and the UNCG women’s basketball team forced 31 Gardner-Webb turnovers on the way to a 55-49 nonconference victory Saturday afternoon at Fleming Gymnasium.

The Spartans (1-2) handed the Bulldogs (3-1) their first loss of the season while also forcing more than 30 turnovers for the first time since January 29, 2011 against Wofford.

Morris not only produced 10 points and 10 rebounds, but also filled up the stat sheet to the tune of six offensive rebounds, three assists, three blocks and three steals. Freshman guard Lucy Mason paced UNCG in scoring for the third time in as many games, tossing in 14 to go along with four steals and three assists. Complementing Morris’ work on the boards was senior forward Sidnei Harmon who racked up eight rebounds with four on the offensive glass.

While Gardner-Webb out-shot the home team .328 to .313, the Spartans won the battle of the boards with 49 as compared to the Bulldogs’ 47. UNCG also pulled down 23 offensive rebounds and grabbed a season-high 18 steals.

The Spartans ran out to a 9-3 advantage when Morris capped the game-opening run with a jumper off an assist from sophomore Jarae Savage. GWU battled back and cut the lead to 12-10 thanks to a jumper from Alicia Quinn with 12:48 left in the half. The Bulldogs continued the run, taking a 16-14 lead on a fastbreak layup by Mayhana Dunovant after Doreen Richardson stole the ball from junior Breonna Patterson.

The teams struggled to put the ball in the basket for much of the remaining time in the half, but with Gardner-Webb holding a 22-18 lead as the clock ticked under three minutes, Morris dropped in a layup at the two-minute mark to slice the Bulldogs lead to just two at the break.

Mason scored eight of her 14 points in the first 20 minutes to pace the Spartans while Harmon recorded six rebounds. UNCG was able to shoot just 26 percent from the floor but GWU did not fare much better at 28 percent. The Blue and Gold also out-rebounded its visitors by four (28-24). Each team hit nine field goals and was credited with five assists on those makes.

During the first 43 seconds of the second half, GWU increased its lead to five with a Jessica Heilig layup and free throw, but two jumpers from the wing by Morris cut that advantage back to one at 25-24. After Catrina Green dropped in a layup to make the score 27-24, the Spartans responded with seven-straight points – capped by a free throw from senior Natalie Headley (Fayetteville, N.C./Fayetteville Academy) to lead by four with 15:11 left in the contest.

A Green layup brought the Bulldogs even with UNCG, 31-31, at the 13:35 mark, but the Spartans took the lead for good with an 8-0 run in which Harmon scored the first four points. The Blue and Gold kept its cushion at eight, 40-32, when junior Janae’ Stevenson (Columbia, S.C./Eau Claire) hit a foul shot. However, Gardner-Webb made one last push, decreasing its deficit to three when a Candace Brown layup made the score 42-39.

Jumpers by Mason and Stevenson stretched the UNCG lead back to 46-39 with 4:46 remaining on the clock and the Spartans allowed the Bulldogs to come no closer than five the rest of the way. GWU’s Jasmine Dale hit the team’s only three-point field goal of the day to make the score 52-47 with just 49 seconds left, but a Headley free throw provided the game’s final six-point margin and improved the Spartans’ 2012-13 record in Fleming Gym to 1-1.

The Blue and Gold hits the road for its next two games as the Spartans will travel to Liberty Tuesday, Nov. 27 for a nonconference tilt at the Vines Center before opening Southern Conference play at Western Carolina. Tipoff between UNCG and Liberty is slated for 7 p.m.

Coastal Carolina 56, Western Carolina 42

CONWAY, S.C. -Western Carolina women's basketball (1-2) dropped its first road game of the season falling 56-42 to Coastal Carolina (2-1) Saturday at the HTC Center.

Long stretches without scoring, in both the first and second half, proved costly for Western Carolina. Even when the Catamounts held the Chanticleers scoreless for over five minutes, in the first half, Western Carolina's shooting woes halted its chances to stay in the game.

The Catamounts shot 26.3 percent from the field and was out-rebounded by Coastal Carolina 48-38.

Redshirt senior Diamond Hunnicuttaccounted for almost a fourth the Catamounts' scoring with 10 points in the game. It was the second time this season Hunnicutt has scored in double figures. Hunnicutt was the only Catamount to score in double figures in the contest.

Western Carolina failed to connect on a three-pointer in the game going 0-for-13. Coastal Carolina had just one trey in the game, 1-for-11.

The Catamounts hit eight field goals in the second half and was 6-of-10 from the charity stripe in the final 20 minutes. Overall, Western Carolina was 12-for-18 from the free throw line. Coastal Carolina went to the free throw line 20 times hitting 13.

The game was tied twice in the early minutes of the game with Western Carolina holding a slim 7-6 lead at the 14:55 minute mark. Coastal Carolina took an 8-7 advantage at 14:30 on a field goal by Angelica Henry and the Chanticleers never trailed in the game again.

Western Carolina scored less than 50 points for the second time this season, after scoring just 40 points in the 55-40 loss to Campbell on November 12.

Western Carolina returns home Tuesday for a 7 p.m. matchup with North Carolina Central. It is the start of a five-game home-stand for the Catamounts.

Northern Illinois 64, Davidson 61

MOREHEAD, Ky. – Davidson nearly came all the way back from an 18-point deficit with a little over seven minutes left in the game, but in the end, ran out of time and Northern Illinois escaped with a 64-61 victory in the second round of the consolation side of the women’s basketball preseason NIT Saturday evening in Johnson Arena on the campus of Morehead State.

The Wildcats (0-2) trailed 52-36 with 7:38 remaining when they used a fierce full-court press and found their shooting touch to start the comeback. A Sophia Aleksandravicius free throw capped off a 14-4 run to cut the deficit to 56-50 with 4:53 left. Then after NIU scored the next two buckets, Davidson charged back again starting with a Dakota Dukes’ and-one play that sparked an 11-2 spurt to make it 62-61 with just 1:04 left. Katrin Chiemeka, who canned a trey in the run, drained two free throws to make it a one-point game.

After a couple of missed chances by NIU to push out the lead, Davidson had one lastchance for the win. Out of a timeout with 27 ticks remaining, the ‘Cats moved the ball around the arc and Chiemeka saw an opening, driving in, but was unable to convert as she turned the ball over with eight seconds on the clock. The Huskies ran the clock down to one second before they were fouled, hitting apair of free throws for the final score of 64-61.

Aleksandravicius finished with her first double-double of the season, getting game highs of 18 points and 11 rebounds. Dukes reached double figures in just her second collegiate game with a season-best 14 points, while Chiemeka and Laura Murray had eight apiece.

Three Huskies (1-1) reached double digits, led by Amanda Corral and Natecia Augusta’s 16 points each. Jenna Thorp had 10 points to go with seven boards. She gave NIU a commanding 47-31 lead on a pair of three-point plays before Davidson made its move on a comeback.

Northern Illinois used its hot-shooting hand to carry it to a 35-22 halftime lead. The Huskies hit 15-of-27 shots, with point guard Corral going 5-for-7 from the field for 12 points, while also hauling in eight rebounds alone in the first half. Davidson hit just six of its first 24 attempts for a 25 percent rate.

Sarah Davis had given Davidson a brief 12-11 lead with three straight free throws, her last one coming at the 12:07 mark. From there it was all NIU as it grabbed a 19-14 advantage with 7:25 to go in the half. Murray swished home a couplefree throws later to cut the lead down to six, 26-20, but a three-ball by the Huskies’ Satavia Taylor started a 9-2 run to close out the half for the 13-point lead.

The Huskies finished the game shooting 55.6 percent and out-boarded the Wildcats, 34-32. Davidson did haul in 12 offensive boards and got 14 points off second chances.

Davidson finishes out the preseason Women’s NIT with its last consolation game, a 7 p.m. contest against Kennesaw State on Sunday in Morehead, Ky. The Owls lost a one-pointaffair to host Morehead State in the first game of the night.