Kennesaw State 53, Georgia Southern 39

KENNESAW, Ga. – Ashley Holliday scored 14 points, including 12 in the second half, to lead Kennesaw State to a 53-39 women’s basketball victory over Georgia Southern Friday night in the KSU Convocation Center.

Anna Claire Knight led Georgia Southern (1-8) with 14 points, and Aishya Wofford tallied four points and a team-high eight rebounds.

Sametria Gideon posted 15 points and 15 rebounds for Kennesaw State (4-7), and Kristina Wells finished with six points and 14 boards.

Chelsea Mason posted nine points and six rebounds.

The Eagles led 20-12 with time winding down in the first half, but Chantel Kennedy got an offensive rebound for the Owls, and Holliday scored a runner as the buzzer sounded. That bucket ignited a 13-0 run for KSU as Holliday hit three consecutive 3-pointers, and the Owls opened a 25-20 lead early in the second period.

Georgia Southern broke its drought with a Knight jumper, and after a free throw by MiMi DuBose, Knight hit another jumper to tie the score 25-25. The Eagles pushed ahead and led 27-26 on another DuBose free throw, but KSU responded with a 10-0 run to take control of the contest.

DuBose briefly trimmed the lead to seven with a jumper, but Wells scored six points in a 12-6 KSU run that made the margin 48-35 and put the game out of reach.

The Eagles scored five straight points on a driving layup by Wofford and a triple by Knight to push a one-point lead to a 13-7 advantage midway through the first half. KSU fought back and cut the margin to

13-11 on a Gideon 3-point play, but the Eagles answered with six straight points. Alexis Sams hit a jumper from just inside the circle, Maggie Davis scored a fastbreak layup and a Knight triple from the wing made the score 20-12.

GSU held Kennesaw State to 17 percent shooting in the half and forced 13 Owl turnovers. KSU stayed in the game with 16 offensive rebounds and seven second-chance points. The Owls shot 54 percent in the second stanza while holding Georgia Southern to 8-of-28 from the floor.

The Eagles were without starting forwards Meredyth Frye and Danielle Spencer, who suffered injuries in the Hatter Classic at Stetson earlier this week.

The Eagles return to action at George Mason Dec. 29, in a 3 p.m. tipoff.

Georgia State 64, Western Carolina 45

ATLANTA, Ga. – Sophomore guard Ali Lane notched her second consecutive double figure scoring performance, with 14 points, in Western Carolina women’s basketball’s (3-7) 64-45 loss to Georgia State (7-2) Friday at the GSU Sports Arena.

Lane had 10 of her points in the first half, scoring almost half of the Catamounts’ 19 points in the first 20 minutes of the game.

Freshman guard Lindsay Simpson continues to build her offensive presence. After going scoreless in the first half, Simpson poured in the Catamounts’ final 10 points of the game, including nailing a pair of three-pointers. The 10 points by Simpson was her first foray into double figure scoring and a career-high for the Franklin, N.C. native.

Western Carolina was strong early in the first half. But even holding the potent high-powered Panther offense scoreless in a three minutes span, from the seven minute mark to four minutes, the Catamounts trailed by five, 20-15; but just couldn’t capitalize on the Panthers’ scoring drought.

Georgia State ended the first half on a 12-8 run to carry a 34-19 lead into the locker room. The 13-point deficit was something the Catamounts could never recover from.

Western Carolina did come out in the second half with some vigor, scoring the first four points of the second half. The pair of buckets cut the Panthers’ lead to 34-23 and caused Georgia Southern to call a timeout and re-group.

After the quick shooting by Western Carolina, to start the second half, the Catamounts seemed to cool off from the field. Twice more Western Carolina trimmed the Panther lead to 11, with the last being 40-29, before Georgia State went on a 9-2 run to build an 18 point lead.

Western Carolina committed 20 turnovers and the Panthers capitalized scoring 25 points on Catamount miscues. The Catamounts did have 10 steals in the game and recorded three blocks, including a block from junior forward Shauna Terry, who now has 80 in her career. Terry needs three more blocks to move into fourth place for blocks in the Catamount record books.

Western Carolina will break for the holidays and return to action at 7 p.m. December 29 at the University of South Carolina.

Charlotte 69, Davidson 54

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – A hot-shooting Charlotte 49ers squad hit 57.1 percent of their first-half shots and used a 26-2 game-changing run to take the battle of cross-county rivals, 69-54, over Davidson Friday evening in women’s basketball play at Halton Arena.

Davidson fell to 4-6 on the campaign, while Charlotte improved to 8-2 with its fourth straight win.

The 26-2 run by the 49ers stretched from the 9:09 mark of the first half into the early stages of the second half. It turned a 20-19 Wildcat lead into a 48-22 deficit that the ‘Cats could not overcome in falling to their cross-county rival.

Davidson was led by Dakota Dukes season-best 15 points, all coming in the second half. Laura Murray had nine points and five rebounds, while Katrin Chiemeka chipped in eight points. Shannon Eriksson had a career-best eight points and Hannah Early also had eight off the bench.

Sophia Aleksandravicius paced Davidson with nine boards, but the ‘Cats’ leading scorer was held to just four points.

Charlotte had a trio in double figures with Hillary Sigmon leading the way with 13 points. Kira Gordon had 12 off the bench, while Ny Hammonds added 10. Jennifer Hailey and Amanda Dowe each hit the double-digit mark in rebounds with 14 and 12, respectively.

The first half was a half of runs and Charlotte won the battle. The ‘Cats saw their early 7-4 lead turn into a 17-9 deficit when the 49ers ran off a 13-2 spurt. Davidson came right back, sparked by back-to-back-to-back triples by Early, Murray and Chiemeka to rattle off an 11-3 run for a 20-19 advantage with 9:38 left in the half.

It would be the last lead for the Wildcats. Charlotte continued its hot shooting, going on an 18-0 run that grabbed control of the game and gave the 49ers a 37-20 lead with 3:39 left. Charlotte hit 15 of its first 25 shots and finished the half at a 57.1 percent clip (16-for-28) for a 40-22 lead at the break.

The second half saw Davidson trail by as many as 28, but the ‘Cats did close the gap to its final score by going on a 14-3 run in the final five minutes. Dukes led the charge, scoring the final nine points of the spurt.

Davidson will takes a break for Christmas, before closing December with a first-time trip to Knoxville, Tenn., to take on No. 10 Tennessee, Dec. 28, with tipoff set for 7 p.m.