Seton Hall 57, Wofford 53

SOUTH ORANGE, NEW JERSEY -- Wofford's game tying three with five seconds to play rattled out as the Terriers could not overcome a late second half Seton Hall run in a 57-53 loss Sunday afternoon in Walsh Gymnasium.

Wofford (5-5) held a 42-41 lead with eight minutes to play in the second half, but Seton Hall's Brittany Morris knocked down a three from the corner to send the Pirates (5-8) on a 13-1 run as they regained the lead, 54-43, with four minutes left.

Daniella Motley ended the Seton Hall run with a basket in the lane as Wofford mounted a 9-0 run aided by five points from Morgan Wrightson including a three-point play as the Terriers pulled within two points, 54-52, with a minute and a half to play.

Alexandra Maseko ended the Terrier run with an offensive rebound and a basket, but Wrightson made the front end of two free throws to keep the game at one possession.

On Seton Hall's ensuing possession, Alexis Brown missed on a one-and-one from the free throw line and Motley grabbed the rebound giving Wofford a chance to tie the game with 19 seconds to play.

Following a Terrier timeout, Wofford's chance to tie the game from the top of the key rattled in and out, and Ka-Deidra Simmons grabbed the rebound.  Simmons was fouled on the play and made the first free throw of a one-and-one to clinch the game, 57-53, for Seton Hall.

The contest started with Seton Hall on a 6-2 run highlighted by four points from Brown, but Michelle Merritt knocked down a jumper to cut the lead to 6-4 with two minutes into play.  Brittany Morris made two free throws to push the Pirate lead back to four points, 8-4, at the first media timeout two minutes later.

Merritt scored off of a Wrightson assist that ended a three minute scoring stint for the Terriers to bring the margin back to two points, 8-6, with 14:44 to play.  Seton Hall answered with an 8-1 run over the next four minutes highlighted by a three from Terry Green in the corner to give the Pirates a 16-7 lead.

Threes from Erin Frost and Chanel Stokes started an 11-3 run for the Terriers as they trimmed the lead to one point, 19-18, with six minutes left in the half.  Brown ended a four minute scoreless streak for the Pirates with a spinning jumper in the lane on the next Seton Hall possession.

Brown's jumper started an 8-2 Pirate run over the final four minutes of the first half as Seton Hall led 27-20 at the break.

Wofford's defense held Seton Hall scoreless for seven minutes as the Terriers flipped a 40-31 deficit into a 42-41 lead with an 11-1 to set the game up for the final eight minutes of action.

Motley led Wofford with 15 points and 14 rebounds for her fourth double-double of the season. Thirteen of her 15 points came in a second half where she went 6-of-8 from the floor.  Wrightson and Frost chipped in 11 points and nine points respectively.  Rachel Brittenham passed out four assists and grabbed six rebounds.

Green paced the Pirates with 16 points off the bench.  she was 6-of-11 from the floor and 4-of-6 from behind the three-point line.  Maseko and Simmons followed with 11 points each.  Maseko notched a double-double with 11 rebounds.

Wofford outshot Seton Hall from the floor, 40 percent compared to 34 percent, but the Pirates held a 42 percent to 22 percent advantage in three-point shooting percentage.  The Terriers, who entered the game leading the Southern Conference in free throw percentage, made only seven of their 16 attempts from the line for 44 percent.  The Pirates made ten of their 15 attempts for 67 percent.

Seton Hall scored 23 points off of 18 Wofford turnovers, 17 of those points came off of 12 Terrier turnovers in the first half.  Wofford scored 14 points off of 15 Seton Hall turnovers.

Wofford returns SoCon play to start the 2013 calendar year at Western Carolina on January 5 at 2 p.m. before returning to the Benjamin Johnson Arena with a four-game home stand starting on January 9 against Elon.

UAB 80, UNCG 62

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – A close game at the half swung in UAB’s favor Sunday as the UNCG women’s basketball team suffered an 80-62 nonconference loss at Bartow Arena. It was the final nonleague contest for the Spartans as they now turn their attention to conference play for the remainder of the regular season.

Junior Janae’ Stevenson (Columbia, S.C./Eau Claire) netted her first double-double of the season and sixth of her career, scoring a career-high 20 points to go along with 10 rebounds. Also with a double-digit output was freshman Lucy Mason (Stone Mountain, Ga./Chamblee Charter) who dropped in 21 points. She also recorded a career-best six assists.

UNCG (3-8) stayed even with the Blazers (9-3) on the glass as each team pulled down 40 rebounds. The Spartans were plagued by 25 turnovers and UAB scored 24 points off those miscues. The Blue and Gold was strong down low, out-scoring the Blazers 40-36 in the paint and shot a slightly better percentage overall – hitting 28 of 62 shots for a 45-percent showing. UAB drained 29 of 65 attempts to end up at 44.6 percent.

After Ashley Grimes hit a layup 13 seconds in to put the Blazers ahead, Stevenson hit a jumper to cap a 6-3 run and give the Spartans a 6-5 advantage. Khoria Newman dropped in a layup to put UAB ahead by seven (19-12) at the 12:10 mark, but UNCG responded, outscoring 12-5 over the next seven minutes to make the score 24-23 in favor of the Blue and Gold with 5:46 left in the half. A newman layup helped the Blazers build another seven-point advantage with 1:32 on the clock, but Stevenson had the last word, grabbing an offensive rebound and putting it back for a score to make the halftime margin 35-30.

Stevenson picked up right where she left off coming out of the break, hitting a layup off an assist from Mason to cut the UAB lead down to 35-32. A jumper by Jarae Savage (Marietta, Ga./North Cobb) kept UNCG close at 43-38 with 15:41 remaining in the game, but the Blazer defense turned up and forced a flurry of Spartan turnovers. The UAB run reached 15-0 and ended when Khalilah Watson nailed a pair of free throws – leaving the home team with a 58-38 cushion.

The Spartans did not go away quietly as a jumper by Ebona Goins (Greensboro, N.C./Dudley) trimmed the UNCG deficit down to 12 (60-48) with 7:55 on the clock. However, Amber Jones drained a three from the top of the key to push the advantage back to 15. UNCG would not come any closer the rest of the way.

The Spartans return home next weekend for a pair of Southern Conference games, beginning Saturday, Jan. 5 against Chattanooga. Tipoff at Fleming Gymnasium is scheduled for 2 p.m.