Davidson 71, UNCG 52
DAVIDSON, N.C. — Laura Murray scored 20 points, and Sophia Aleksandravicius added 16 points and eight rebounds as Davidson cruised to its fifth straight win, a 71-52 Southern Conference women’s basketball victory over UNCG Wednesday night in Belk Arena.
Murray was 7-for-10 from the floor and 6-for-8 from 3-point range in 24 minutes of action, while Aleksandravicius converted 6-of-10 from the field and added a pair of blocked shots in 23 minutes.
Jasmine Calin scored nine points off the bench for the Wildcats (16-7, 12-2 SoCon), while Katrin Chiemeka and Sarah Davis each scored seven points. Barbara Sitton finished with six points and six assists.
Dayshaun Richbow led UNCG (3-20, 2-13 SoCon) with 13 points to go along with five rebounds and three assists. Janaé Stevenson and Sarah Folwell each scored nine.
Davidson used a zone defense to force the Spartans to take the outside shots and held UNCG to 27 percent shooting in the game, including 7-for-31 in the first half. The Wildcats shot 52 percent from the floor in the contest.
Davidson outscored UNCG 19-5 over the first 11 minutes of the contest as the ‘Cats made eight of their first 14 shots and held UNCG to 2-of-13 from the floor. Murray paced Davidson with eight points during the stretch, and Chiemeka scored five.
Trailing 31-13, UNCG used a 9-2 run to cut the margin to 11 points just before the end of the half. But Sitton was fouled driving to the bucket with a second on the clock and made both free throws to put Davidson ahead 35-22 at the break.
The second half saw more of the same as Davidson used a 28-5 spurt to open a 63-27 cushion, its largest lead of the game, following a Jasmine Calin layup with 8:35 to play.
Trailing 67-31 with 6:41 to go, the Spartans outscored Davidson 21-4 the rest of the way for the final margin.
Davidson travels to Elon for a 2 p.m. SoCon contest Saturday.
Appalachian State 75, Wofford 46
BOONE, N.C. – Appalachian State University women’s basketball finished off a regular-season sweep of Southern Conference foe Wofford with a 75-46 victory on Wednesday at the Holmes Center.
The Mountaineers (19-3, 13-1 SoCon) defeated the Terriers (11-13, 4-11) for the 10th-straight time and extended their winning streak to eight games, matching its season high.
Wofford used three quick strikes to jump out to a 7-3 lead in the first three minutes, but the Apps responded with four-straight points to tie the contest.
A pair of buckets would put Wofford up 11-7 and force ASU to take a timeout with
13:34 left in the first half, but Appalachian would roar back with a 15-5 run over the next six minutes to jump out to a 24-16 lead.
After the Terriers closed the gap to five points (26-21) with five minutes left, Kelsey Sharkey and Chakeitha Weldon combined to score the next eight points to give the Apps their first double-digit lead of the game (34-21) with 2:26 remaining in the period.
Wofford scored four-straight points to cut the deficit to nine (34-25) with under a minute to play, but Anna Freeman stretched the lead back to 37-25 with a three-pointer to end the half.
The Mountaineers would go on to dominate the second half, taking their first 20-point lead (45-25) on Maryah Sydnor’s jumper with 16:39 left to play and scoring 12 unanswered points to start the half and take a 49-25 lead with just under 14 minutes to play.
The Terriers would never threaten in the second half as the Apps kept their foot on the gas and led by as many as 33 (73-40) when Canesha Edwards converted a layup with 2:16 left to play.
Appalachian State shot 50.8 percent (33-for-65) from the floor while limiting Wofford to just 35.2 percent (19-for-54). The Mountaineers finished with a 43-29 edge in rebounds.
The Apps dished out 22 assists, just two shy of a season high, and forced 30 turnovers by the Terriers. Appalachian State had four players record three or more assists and three with three or more steals.
Freeman led all players with 16 points while dishing out five assists and collecting five steals. Sharkey finished with 12 points, seven rebounds and four steals, while Courtney Freeman scored 11 and grabbed eight boards. Weldon scored
10 points and dished out four assists.
Wofford, which did not have a player score in double-digits, was led on offense by Daniella Motley and Mariah Masalin who each netted eight points.
Appalachian State returns to action on Saturday when it plays host to UNC Greensboro at 4:30 p.m. before a Monday contest against Elon at 6 p.m.